By River Chau
International Women’s Day is a celebration of the accomplishments of women all around the world and throughout history. Being a part of the Indigo River Publishing team has granted me the opportunity to work side-by-side with incredible women sharing their profound stories of overcoming adversity and hardship as well as survival and transformation.
At Indigo, we believe in uplifting words worth reading, and I can’t think of a better way to honor that philosophy than shining a bright spotlight on some of our remarkable women authors and their stories. On behalf of the Indigo team, I present you a collection of books that demonstrate exactly what women are capable of–everlasting friendship, champions of justice, facing mental and physical well-being head-on, and never surrendering to darkness.
More Than Words by Kirsten Anderson
“A must-read to help men and women break the cycle and change the narrative.” — Blaise Hunter, Award-Winning Author of Heroine: Embrace Your Flaws and Own Your Awesome | Human Rights Consultant
After years of employment in a verbally abusive environment at the Iowa Statehouse, Kirsten Anderson lost her identity as an assertive, career-minded, confident, and empowered woman. Her relationship with her toxic employer ended when she was fired just hours after issuing a formal complaint. A legal and personal journey ensued.
Anderson won her case. Since then, she has made it her mission to educate others about the complexities of sexual harassment, bullying, and retaliation in the workplace.
In More Than Words: Turn #MeToo into #ISaidSomething, Anderson shares her remarkable journey from the debilitating despair of harassment to hope. In each chapter, readers learn more about Anderson’s personal journey as well as exercises, questions, and actionable takeaways to confront harassment.
The book encompasses Anderson’s journey and is filled with:
- Real-world scenarios outlining the complexities of harassment
- Practical application exercises for a modern world
- Thought-provoking questions aimed at fostering dialogue
- Actionable takeaways to confront harassment in an environment
By sharing the realities targets of harassment face, Anderson intends to educate readers, help targets move forward and initiate change in toxic work environments to eliminate harassment once and for all.
“Read it, and let it inspire you to help change our culture for the better.” — Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand, Author of The Winning Ticket: Uncovering America’s Biggest Lottery Scam
The Third Return by Monica Medina
“…nothing short of beautiful.”— Nicole Munoz, Mental Health Advocate
It is not the usual story told by a victim or survivor, but rather by a daughter who lived to witness the domestic abuse of her mother for seventeen years. This story provides an intimate perspective of the strength it took to recover from the wounds of loss and trauma while lending readers a look at household violence through the eyes of a child.
After Monica’s mother remarried and a new baby brother was born, her stepfather, Ian, transformed their Chicago home into a smothering confinement that seeded fear, tension, and horrific abuse. Although her childhood was consumed with dysfunction and confusion, as she grew older, the tormenting cycle of violence became clear to her, and she rebelled against the daily manipulation of her sadistic stepfather.
With continual insistence, she urged her mother to stay away from Ian long enough to break the cycle of leaving and returning. But in spite of her pleas, her mother returned to Ian a third time, and her decision resulted in a feared and tragic outcome that shattered their family as well as their hearts. Yet in spite of the devastation caused by her stepfather, Monica and her siblings bravely struggled to overcome the unexpected pain and grief, and ultimately found lasting peace in their lives.
It is because of her experiences and her awakened understanding of life that the author has come to believe that every life is beautiful. It is with this perspective that she shares her story and encourages her readers with this final message: You are a Beautiful Life.
“A powerful story shared from a lesser-told perspective—an absolute must-read.” — Ciara Suarez, LMHC
You Are The Style by Laurie Brucker-Amerikaner
“…just what women of all ages, styles, and sizes need to feel empowered in their own wardrobes and in their own skin.” — Stacy London, Author of The Truth about Style and CEO of State of Menopause
Learn to love yourself through your style.
Inspiring, thought-provoking, and empowering, You Are the Style will break down everything you once believed about getting dressed and rebuild your sense of self, style, and personal empowerment from the ground up. Author Laurie Brucker not only educates you about the art of style, but also takes you on a deep dive into your style psyche to pull out the true YOU waiting for her day to sun.
Learn everything from how to shift your mindset when it comes to clothing, to how to find love and compassion for yourself and your body and how to be inspired by and in life. Pair that empowering knowledge with the technical tools of how to easily clean and organize your closet with care, build an outfit that feels effortlessly stylish, cultivate confidence in your own self-expression, and, most importantly, manifest your best life through the daily action of getting dressed.
Filled with easy and actionable style tools that you can implement immediately in your daily life, You Are the Style will change the conversation you have with yourself about your clothing, your body, your style, and your life. This isn’t just a guide to getting dressed; it’s a book on why you get dressed for YOU and how to step into a style that fuels you, lifts you up, and supports the amazing woman that you already are. Style will become your personal superpower, and when you use this magic in your life, watch as every day you confidently shine from the inside out.
“Like a warm hug from a good friend, this book wraps you up into a world where you become the best version of yourself.” — Emily Lauren Dick, Body Image Expert and Author of Body Positive: A Guide to Loving Your Body
“This book is for you if you’ve ever struggled with what to wear or how to communicate who you are through your daily outfit choices.” — Bri Seeley, Author of Permission to Leap
Feathers at My Feet by Barbara Pearson
“…perfectly captures the power of great friendship to imprint on our hearts and change the course of our lives.” — Nicola Kraus, co-author of The Nanny Diaries
Readers’ Favorite Silver Medal Winner in the Womens Non-Fiction for 2023
When destiny introduces art teacher Barbara Pearson to regionally renowned artist, teacher, and activist, Phyllis Bosco, Barbara’s ordinary life transforms into a spectacular adventure.
Over decades of friendship, the two women celebrate and commiserate whatever comes their way. They make grand entrances at art shows, smoke cigarillos at weddings, and, with a cadre of like-minded women friends, dance at every opportunity.
Eventually, propelled by failed relationships with men and enchanted by visions of a future retirement spent together, the two friends purchase a house, replete with a ghost. But soon, evolving loyalties trample promises, and the friends drift apart—until tragedy strikes. Feathers at my Feet pays tribute to an enduring friendship that adapts to face unimaginable circumstances with humor and grace.
“I couldn’t put it down.” — Hannah Palmer, Author of Flight Path
Fearlessly Made You: Surviving and Thriving in a Perfectly Imperfect Life by Kristie Tobias
“This was an inspiring book that I wished I had read while in my 20’s.” — Shannan Harper, Harper’s Court
At twenty years old, after years of sexual abuse and trauma, Kristie Tobias was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Kristie takes us through the realistic, messy, sometimes dark, but ultimately inspiring journey of her struggles with PTSD; her challenges with just trying to thrive in life when every obstacle seemed to bring her down; and her complicated relationship with her own self-worth, goals, and expectations.
Fearlessly Made You isn’t just about Kristie, it’s about you. It’s about understanding that your unique purpose in this life is not for life to be easy but to own the journey that is laid out for you and the direction you choose to take.
Fearlessly Made You: Surviving and Thriving in a Perfectly Imperfect Life shows you that you don’t have to always be perfect or wake up at the crack of dawn every morning to accomplish your goals. Your journey looks different to you than it does to anyone else, and Kristie encourages you to embrace your journey and not allow challenges to keep you from pushing forward through the struggles to live out your purpose.
A Splendid Gift by Barbara Prisceaux
“A forthright, poignant, and heartwarming account of a storied and beloved career in nursing.” – Kirkus Reviews
“…a powerful memoir that holds the uncommon ability to transcend personal experience alone…” – Midwest Book Review
A Splendid Gift: Celebrating 60 Years in Nursing tells the story of Barbara Elle Prisceaux, who turned a childhood dream into an extraordinary career.
As a young girl in Yonkers, New York, Barbara was drawn to the nurses walking from their residence at the end of her block to the hospital several streets away. She decided then and there that she would become a nurse too by age fifteen, when her family was living in West Lawn Pennsylvania, she accepted a part-time nurse’s aide position at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Reading, and she bused twenty miles each way after school, and sometimes, on weekends. At eighteen, she was accepted into the School of Nursing at Bellevue Hospital, Class of 1962.
Including two enlistments in the Army Nurse Corps Reserves, Barbara spent most of her career on the West Coast. In 2003, she moved from California to Central Florida and changed her patient care focus from Emergency and Critical Care to Oncology Nursing.
Combining her nursing career with her love of writing, Barbara developed and coordinated educational programs in Critical Care; designed legal defense protocols for Renal Transplant litigations; cofounded Paper Chasers Medical-Legal Consultations; edited documents for Northern California District Attorneys Association, and as an Oncology Certified Nurse in Florida, specialized in clinical research and advocacy for oncology patients and their families.
Throughout her six-decade career, Barbara met challenge after challenge head-on, from ever-changing technology to hospital politics. When she retired at the age of seventy-seven, she was working two 12-hour shifts each week, providing hands-on care to patients in a medical center eighty miles from her home.
Living Human by Flic Manning
“An encouraging work that will provide hope to those living with chronic conditions.” — Kirkus
“If you have an invisible illness or know someone who does—Living Human is a must read…This book is jam packed with everything you need to reclaim your life.” — Jacinta Parsons, ABC Radio Broadcaster & Author of Unseen
“Flic has turned trauma into her superpower and inspires anyone going through any pain that they too can win at their game.” — Fred Schebesta: Founder of Finder, Author of Go Live, AFR Young Rich Lister
My deepest wish is that reading this book will inspire you to take a look at your human experience and see it for the beautiful, painful blessing that it is. Whether you face illness and pain or you want to build a scalable business, you have the power to do it no matter what life throws at you by doing it your perfectly imperfect way, with your perfectly imperfect body and mind.
Flic Manning has lived a life that is anything but traditional. With the odds stacked against her, facing incurable invisible diseases and mental health issues, she has walked the path less traveled to embrace the power she believes we all have inside no matter what complexities we face.
In this wellness memoir, Flic takes us through her deeply personal journey, from struggling with pain and illness as a dancer to finding her voice and stepping into her most human, raw, and powerful self as an entrepreneur and wellness advocate. Her story contains nuggets of wellness and mindset wisdom wrapped up in lessons from her journey that are sometimes dark, other times deeply funny, and always inspiring. You will be uplifted, but you will also discover the sustainable wellness steps you can take to make your life a profound and healthy one.
