Out From the Underworld: A Memoir

FOREWORD REVIEWS INDIES BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD, FINALIST 2016

READERS FAVORITE FIVE STARRED REVIEW, SILVER MEDALIST 2015

EAST TEXAS WRITERS' GUILD BOOK AWARDS, 3rd place, 2015

A basement apartment, an undertaker, three resilient kids, and the mysterious disappearance of their mother. Forty years later, in this heartbreaking, uplifting, and darkly humorous coming-of age memoir set in the 1970s and 1980s, one daughter explores the truth of what happened.

Heather Siegel was six years old when her mother disappeared, sending her funeral director father into a tailspin that took Heather and her siblings down with him–from a comfortable suburban home to a barely habitable basement apartment, a dark world they soon found themselves fighting to return to from the exile of foster care, then fighting even harder to escape. Forty years later, Heather Siegel tells the remarkable story of how she and her siblings, Jaz and Greg, banded together to find out what happened to their mother and fight their way Out from the Underworld with nothing but their wits, determination, unbreakable bonds and gifts for humor and compassion to sustain them. A wrenching, inspiring story filled with heartbreak, hope and love, Out from the Underworld will move you to laughter and tears.

PRAISE FOR OUT FROM THE UNDERWORLD:

"Heather Siegel has taken the raw material of an unusually deranged childhood, and done with it what very few can do: fashioned a piece of writing so smart, funny, and insightful that, as we read, we see the narrator growing from a street-smart little cynic into a remarkably understanding woman. More one cannot ask of any memoirist." - Vivian Gornick

"A graduate summa cum laude of the school of hard knocks, Heather Siegel has written this dark, riveting memoir with refreshing if mordant humor, rueful tenderness and compassion. She is a stunningly gifted storyteller." - Phillip Lopate

"Heather Siegel is a master storyteller like none I have encountered." - Sarah Cottrell, HUFFINGTON POST BOOKS

"Heather Siegel's unforgettable memoir is authentically heartbreaking, but also filled with the kind of dark humor that will have any reader turning pages, eager to keep up with her masterful storytelling. Revelatory in many ways about childhood, parenting, family, identity, forgiveness and, above all, survival, Out From The Underworld examines some of life's greatest tragedies with admirable honesty, exquisite detail and a redemptive insight that is both inspiring and illuminating." - Julia Fierro, author of CUTTING TEET​H

"It's about mental attitude and how positive change is achieved against all odds, and it's about accepting parents for who they are rather than who they 'should' or could become. Out from the Underworld illuminates one woman's transformation and serves as a beacon guiding pathways of possibility for others to follow." - Diane Donovan, MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW ​ "Heather Siegel writes well - really well. And her story is so astonishing you'll be tempted to check the cover again to see the word "Memoir" - but memoir it is, and what a journey! Gripping and compelling, filled with the kind of nuanced details that only someone who lived through this could write. An impressive debut from a talented writer." - C.E. Lawrence (Carole Bugge), award-winning author of the "SILENT" series thrillers

"If Frederick Douglass or Elie Wiesel could rise above, why can't I? These are the questions a precocious young girl is forced to ask when, after an idyllic beginning full of Oz-like dazzle, she's suddenly dropped into the black hole of foster care. She spends the rest of her life investigating what went wrong. What she learns is this: demons can be holy messengers; empathy must be balanced with responsibility; and managing the shit sandwich that life foists upon us is part of the human condition. And it's our duty to rise above. Thank you, Heather, for showing us how." - Elizabeth Koch, publisher

"Out From the Underworld" is one of those stories that shows how people can rise from difficult situations and prove society wrong. If you have a dream, intelligence, resourcefulness, and a sense of humor, you can accomplish anything." - Stacie Gorkow, THE GAZETTE

"While Siegel was a victim of parental neglect and emotional abuse, she does not present herself as a victim. Rather, she shows strength and gritty determination. Heather Siegel is a role model for each of us, teaching us how to meet difficult circumstances head-on and overcome them. Out from the Underworld is a book I will not forget." - Deborah Lloyd, READER'S FAVORITE, 5 star review

"Heather Siegel has written a funny, painfully honest, and ultimately inspiring coming-of-age memoir. Her story of escaping a dysfunctional family and coming to terms with both her dead mother and demanding father, is a great read." - Alan Rinzler, Editor

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