Bøger af Patti Davis

"Genuine and heartfelt."-San Diego Union-TribuneRonald Reagan's daughter writes with a moving openness about losing her father to Alzheimer's disease. The simplicity with which she reveals the intensity, the rush, the flow of her feelings encompasses all the surprises and complexities that ambush us when death gradually, unstoppably invades life.In this moving and illuminating portrait of a woman and her father, Patti Davis describes saying goodbye in stages, helpless against the onslaught of a disease that steals what is most precious-a person's memory. "Alzheimer's," she writes, "snips away at the threads, a slow unraveling, a steady retreat; as a witness all you can do is watch, cry, and whisper a soft stream of goodbyes."She writes of needing to be reunited at forty-two with her mother, of regaining what they had spent decades demolishing. A truce was necessary to bring together a splintered family, a few weeks before her father released his letter telling the country and the world of his illness. She delves into her memories to touch her father again, to hear his voice, to keep alive the years she had with him.

There are all kinds of ghosts. Some hover along dark streets, some perch in tree branches or slither along rooftops. And some live inside us.

Patti Davis has experienced physical and sexual abuse throughout her childhood, two failed marriages to the same man who couldn't give up his addictions, being a single parent of three children, being homeless at 53, a rare form of stage III breast cancer, and a near fatal auto accident that left her with ongoing chronic pain and a brain injury. You will be amazed with how God has brought to life the truths from 2 Cor. 4:7-9 (her life verses) through her story. You will learn how to equalize the pressures of life from the inside out-just like Patti did-and ultimately find "peace in the pressure cooker."

As a frequent guest columnist for The New York Times, Patti Davis has distinguished herself as a contemporary storyteller. Far from being the enfant terrible she was once portrayed to be, Davis here turns an honest yet empathetic eye toward her parents, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, combining bittersweet recollections-of her father, the eternal lifeguard, who saved 77 people from drowning yet failed to create a coherent AIDS policy, and of her mother, who never escaped the torture chamber of her own youth-with comedic scenes as if plucked from a sitcom as she describes marrying her yoga instructor at the Hotel Bel-Air, hiding her marijuana stash from the FBI and constantly evading the Secret Service. An inherently wise work about a family finally reunited through Ronald Reagan's Alzheimer's diagnosis, Dear Mom and Dad will be readily appreciated by any adult grappling with the legacy of a troubled childhood.

We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:7-9) If you ever question God's ability to redeem whatever He chooses, regardless of how horrific it is, Patti Davis wants to lay your doubt to rest. As a child, Patti has a rage-aholic mother, struggles in school, and suffers both physical and sexual abuse. But when a neighbor invites her to participate in a children's program at their church, something changes. This local church, filled with complete strangers, soon becomes a sanctuary from her chaotic and unpredictable home life. It is a place where, for a few hours a week, she feels safe. In spite of being under God's protection, Patti's adult life is a series of struggles. Her marriage to her high school sweetheart leads to heartache. She receives a devastating health diagnosis, followed by a life-changing car accident. But even through health, relationship, and financial hardship, God remains faithful in her life. For anyone who wonders what purpose God has for their troubles, this gripping testimony of a woman who has received comfort in the midst of wounding, and a new outlook during severe trials, will forever change their perspective on adversity.

A racially fueled incident exposes the fissures that sit beneath the surface of friendships and families, triggering significantly more damage than the earthquake that separates them. Whisper and Odelia are eleven-year-old girls who find refuge in the quiet corner of innocent friendship. Their Southern California homes each play host to an undercurrent of secrets. For Whisper that means a fractured mother returning from rehab, for Odelia a brother whose absence is laced with mystery. Race had no real place in the playful friendship of the white Whisper and the black Odelia until a terrifying encounter brings prejudice to the forefront of their lives, opening their young hearts to ill-begotten emotion. A violent earthquake further tears the world as they know it apart. Can hope and innocence be restored? An heirloom timepiece, a curious old woman and an unlikely hero join the girls as they search for their families and understanding among the rubble. A powerful story of race and redemption by novelist Patti Davis. "Like many writers, I am never sure where stories come from," says author Patti Davis. "They seem to arrive and ask to be told. That was particularly true with The Earth Breaks in Colors. I am intrigued by the innocence of children who pay little mind to skin color, so a friendship between two girls -- one white, one black -- was a world I wanted to visit. And families with secrets is a world that often visits me as a writer." "There is a whole genre of literature in which the innocence of childhood is touched by the realities of the grown-up world - Carson McCullers' the Member of the Wedding, Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye come to mind. Patti Davis - in a language that falls beguilingly on the reader's ear like a perfect whisper yet does so in a writer's voice that is both robust and tender - tells us her version of this age-old story and makes it young again." - Kevin Sessums, Mississippi Sissy and I Left it On the Mountain "Rarely in recent American life have we so needed inspiring reminders of a closeness that transcends color, is tested by the cruelty of society and the complications of family - and yet miraculously provides renewal, after all. A poetic, haunting - and importantly, healing - novel. - Sheila Weller, Girls Like Us and The News Sorority "Two pre-teen girls form a fast and important inter-racial friendship, despite the growing hostility around them. A timely, tender and unforgettable look at what love does - and what hate can destroy." - Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Is This Tomorrow and Pictures of You This is gorgeous writing, a heartbreaking, acutely observed portrait of two Los Angeles families, united by friendship and tragedy, and the delicate journeys they make to try to keep from toppling into the cracks and canyons of the constantly fracturing paradise that is Southern California." - David Rambo About Patti Davis: "The Earth Breaks in Colors" is Patti's tenth novel. She is the author of "The Long Goodbye," a memoir about losing her father Ronald Reagan to Alzheimer's, and "Till Human Voices Wake Us," a haunting story of a tender lesbian love affair sprung from a gutting loss. In 2014 she ghost wrote "The Wit and Wisdom of Gracie: An Opinionated Pug's Guide to Life" - a warm and amusing look at the life of her pug Gracie in a California beach town. She has written screenplays and has been widely published in newspapers and magazines.