The Wrong Calamity: A Memoir

An intimate and compellingly honest memoir of a woman coming into her own after profound pain and grief.

Marsha Jacobson agreed to marry a secretive and controlling man because she saw no way out. He compelled her to move to Japan with him, where a chance meeting led to a job at the Tokyo headquarters of Mattel Toys.

As she became successful, her husband became more abusive. When they were back in America, she grabbed their two toddlers and escaped from him chased by police. Years later, she had a successful career and a joyful second marriage-until terrible memories her husband buried in childhood came to get him. His PTSD and flashbacks shattered her marriage, her career, and many friendships.

With penetrating insight and writing that moves from gritty to glorious, Marsha gives voice to the often-misunderstood lived experience of loss and grief and explores how trauma spreads from generation to generation and person to person but need not last a lifetime.