Put Off My Sackcloth Essays: A collection telling a story of hope

Put Off My Sackcloth Essays, by Annie Dawid provides open and honest glimpses into the life of a single daughter of a Jewish immigrant, who chooses to settle, eventually, in a small mountain community, where she lives off-grid with her mixed lineage son. Dawid’s essays are a brutally honest portrayal of her journey out of a history of suicidal depression and into motherhood.

The fact that the organization is not chronological, may make it more difficult for readers who are used to following a linear storyline, but her essays intermix recountings from her own life experiences with reflections on her research of the 1978 mass suicides in Jonestown, in a mosaic of small pieces that fit together to create a complete story, out of despair and into hope. These powerful essays are at times heart wrenching, at times evoking a smile, but they all reach out and touch the reader from the depths of the author’s soul.

Amazed by Dawid’s inner strength to battle her own demons, these soul revealing essays outline a journey from a life teetering on the edge of death into one filled with life and love. I give Put Off My Sackcloth Essays five quills.

Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARCs. Have a book you’d like reviewed? Contact Kaye at kayebooth(at)yahoo(dot)com.