Nearly Departed: Adventures in Loss, Cancer, and Other Inconveniences

Pfeffer seamlessly blends tears and laughter in her vibrant debut memoir. Pfeffer’s mother and maternal grandmother both died of breast cancer in their early 40s. Her mother’s death left Pfeffer responsible for her younger siblings just as she was starting college, and made her afraid that she too would succumb to cancer. In 2005, when Pfeffer was 31, a blood test confirmed she had a genetic mutation that gave her a nearly 90% chance of developing breast cancer. In the midst of juggling a nascent fashion career and the early stages of motherhood, she opted to have a double mastectomy. Doctors found cancer in one of the breasts they removed, spurring Pfeffer’s two younger sisters to receive the same procedure. She vividly complements descriptions of her struggles—including her fears of leaving her children motherless and her encounters with callous healthcare providers—with humor, as in a chapter that recounts things people said to her during chemotherapy (“You’re so lucky you don’t have to waste any time doing your hair, you just throw on your wig and you’re out the door!”). The results are as funny as they are heartfelt and inspiring. Agent: Myrsini Stephanides, Arc Literary Management. (July)