Books Inc. Laurel proudly presents Laura Cathcart Robbins for a reading from her new memoir Stash: My Life in Hiding!
Laura will be joined in conversation by LaNiece Jones.
A propulsive and vivid memoir--in the vein of Drinking: A Love Story and Somebody's Daughter--about the journey to sobriety and self-love amidst addiction, privilege, racism, and self-sabotage from the host of the popular podcast The Only One in the Room.
After years of hiding her addiction from everyone--from stockpiling pills in her Louboutins to elaborately scheduling withdrawals between PTA meetings, baby showers, and tennis matches--Laura Cathcart Robbins settles into a complicated purgatory.
She learns the hard way that privilege doesn't protect you from pain. Facing divorce, the possibility of a grueling custody battle, and internalized racism, Robbins wonders just how much more she can take.
Now, with courage and candid openness, she reveals how she managed to begin the long journey towards sobriety and unexpectedly finding new love. Robbins harrowingly illustrates taking down the wall she built around herself brick by brick and what it means to be Black in a startingly white world. With its raw, finely crafted, and engaging prose, Stash is the story of just how badly the facade she created had to shatter before Laura could reconnect to her true self.
" Stash is a marvel. In these pages I laughed, I cried, I fist-pumped in celebration. This debut proves that Laura is both beautifully human and a force. This is a must-read."-- Keah Brown, author of The Pretty One
"I couldn't put this book down! Stash is a page-turning story of secret addiction with equal doses of humor and pathos, taking us on a heart-racing ride towards recovery and redemption. This is memoir-writing at its best - revealing a hidden self with unabashed bravery. As a unicorn Black woman facing her demons against the backdrop of a high-end Hollywood life, Laura Cathcart Robbins has given us an iconic heroine, one we've never seen before. Lucky for us she decided to come clean."-- Bridgett M. Davis, author of The World According to Fannie Davis
"Robbins writes with unparalleled humor and compassion for everyone in her story, including herself, without glossing over the misdeeds that necessarily accompanied her addiction. Readers will cheer Robbins as she slowly learns to trust others, and most triumphantly, trust the still, small voice inside her, urging her toward sobriety and freedom. Robbins' compelling story will inspire, awe, entertain, educate, and help so many readers."-- Christie Tate, New York Times bestselling author of Group
"An irresistibly delicious story you cannot stop feasting on, that will sit in your bones and write over your memory like it happened to you. You have to read this book."-- Holly Whittaker, New York Times bestselling author of Quit Like a Woman
"The evolving Laura of Stash reveals herself to be at once loving, resentful, soft, spiky, generous, bitchy, big-hearted, petty... I rooted for her throughout. These apparent contradictions capture perfectly the shifting tectonic plates of personality that occur in a recovery done honestly - and done right. Brilliant."-- Catherine Gray, bestselling author of The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober
"Laura perfectly describes both the insatiable disease of addiction and the painful existence of living a lie. This is a book not just about saving your life from addiction but taking charge of your own happiness. Plus, Laura's wit and inner monologue are cleverly placed to connect us to her truth and journey."-- Amber Valetta, supermodel, actress, and sustainability editor at Vogue UK
"Beyond being emotionally riveting, Stash ushers in a new way for us to talk and read about the paradoxes of addiction, race, family, class, and gender."-- Kiese Laymon, MacArthur Foundation 2022 Fellow and author of Heavy, Long Division, and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America
Laura Cathcart Robbins is an author, freelance writer, speaker, and host of the popular podcast The Only One in the Room. She has been active for many years as a speaker and school trustee and is credited for creating The Buckley School's nationally recognized committee on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice. Her recent articles in HuffPost and The Temper on the subjects of race, recovery, and divorce have garnered her worldwide acclaim. She is a 2022 TEDx Speaker, and an LA Moth StorySlam winner. Currently, she sits on the advisory boards of the San Diego Writer's Festival and the Outliers HQ Podcast Festival. She lives in California. Follow her on Instagram @LauraCathcartRobbins and find out more at TheOnlyOnePod.com.
Oakland native LaNeice Jones blends her over 20 years of corporate, political, arts/entertainment and non profit experience to do good in her community and throughout the state of California. LaNiece is passionate about designing programs, events, campaigns, and initiatives to increase the efficiency and productivity for social business, social enterprises, and community organizations. She has a particular interest in supporting black women to be authentic leaders and building coalitions to empower the community-at-large for economic success. A proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated's Xi Gamma Omega Chapter, LaNiece serves as the state executive director of Black Women Organized for Political Action and is the Principal Consultant to the California Legislative Black Caucus.
