Stephen Potter

Ann Marie Potter

"As time went on, I realized that if I didn't start seeing my mother as this human that she was, then I wouldn't ever truly know her. But, even so, this innocent girl from Marlborough Massachusetts who, in the end, found herself divorced, raising three kids in a small Connecticut town long separated from the family who shaped her, unable to find a job because she invested in a life that promised a different outcome, would still try to stay superhuman for as long as she possibly could."Within the Loudest Silence posthumously chronicles the life of Ann Marie Potter, a mother, divorcee, multiple suicide attempt survivor, proud bike activist, depression and suicide victim, and the ripple effect it had on the lives surrounding her. Using notes and chapters from his mother's unfinished memoir after her death, her son, Stephen, manages to both finish her story by showing us his own. Through boisterous laughter and brutal honesty, comes a story that both looks at the beauty of pain, and how love and family can guide us through it. For readers of Paul Kalanithi, Andrew Solomon, and Anne Lamott, a pensive yet profound dual memoir that intricately weaves together the life of a late mother and her son, asking the question, 'When life becomes tragic, does it have to be considered a tragedy?'

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