Journalist Stephanie Land's work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Vox, Salon, and many other outlets. She focuses on social and economic justice as a writing fellow through both the Center for Community Change and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
'What this book does well is illuminate the struggles of poverty
and single-motherhood, the unrelenting frustration of having no
safety net, the ways in which our society is systemically designed
to keep impoverished people mired in poverty, the indignity of
poverty by way of unmovable bureaucracy, and people's lousy
attitudes toward poor people... Land's prose is vivid and
engaging... [A] tightly-focused, well-written memoir... an
incredibly worthwhile read.'
ROXANE GAY, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist and
Hunger: A Memoir
'Marry the evocative first-person narrative of Educated with the
kind of social criticism seen in Nickel and Dimed and you'll get a
sense of the remarkable book you hold in your hands. In Maid,
Stephanie Land, a gifted storyteller with an eye for details you'll
never forget, exposes what it's like to exist in America as a
single mother, working herself sick cleaning our dirty toilets, one
missed paycheck away from destitution. It's a perspective we seldom
see represented first hand - and one we so desperately need right
now. Timely, urgent, and unforgettable, this is memoir at its very
best."
SUSANNAH CAHALAN, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of Brain
on Fire: My Month of Madness
'We need more books like Maid, with the view from behind the fridge
and under the couch. Stephanie Land has something to teach us about
both sides of the inequality divide. Neither is what you are
expecting.'
BARBARA EHRENREICH, international bestselling author of Nickel and
Dimed
'As a solo mom and former house cleaner, this brave book resonated
with me on a very deep level. We live in a world where the solo
mother is an incomplete story: adrift in the world without a
partner, without support, without a grounding, centering (male)
force. But women have been doing this since the dawn of time, and
Stephanie Land is one of millions of solo moms forced to get blood
from stone. She is at once an old and new kind of American hero.
This memoir of resilience and love has never been more
necessary.'
DOMENICA RUTA, New York Times bestselling author of With or Without
You
'Stephanie Land's heartrending book, Maid, provides a trenchant
reminder that something is amiss with the American Dream and gives
voice to the millions of "working poor" toiling in a country that
needs them but doesn't want to see them. A sad and hopeful tale of
being on the outside looking in, the author makes us wonder how'd
we fare scrubbing and vacuuming away the detritus of an affluence
that always seems beyond reach."
STEVE DUBLANICA, New York Times bestselling author of Waiter
Rant
'Heartfelt and powerful...Land's love for her daughter shines
brightly through the pages of this beautiful, uplifting story of
resilience and survival.' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
'There's two stories in Maid. One is of the grind, agony and
precariousness of poverty and the systems and stigma that
mindlessly trap people in it. The other is a love story - of a
mother and daughter, but also a woman's love for herself when world
has turned its back on her. An important book giving a powerful
voice to those who are too regularly overlooked.' MARISA BATE
'A work full of integrity and of the grit, graft and grace that
comes with it. Stephanie Land's memoir is an essential manual in
the sort of resilience, hope and diligence many of us will be
fortunate enough to never experience. Maid comes from the gut not
the gutter. Stephanie Land was meant to be a writer.' LISA BLOWER,
award-winning author of Sitting Ducks
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