My memoir, Saving Ellen, will be published by Skyhorse Publishing March 11, 2025, During the isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, I wrote this memoir after reading diaries I kept decades ago.
New York Times bestselling author Wally Lamb said, "Saving Ellen broke my heart and renewed my belief in the human spirit - sometimes in the same chapter!"
Luanne Rice, author of many bestselling novels, said, "Saving Ellen is a shimmering memoir of childhood, full of tumult and complicated love. Maura Casey writes about her family with tremendous generosity and understanding. The heart of the story is universal. It's a brilliant book."
The book chronicles my feisty sister’s struggle with kidney disease when the illness was usually a death sentence, my father’s alcoholism, and my mother’s fight to donate her own kidney to save Ellen when transplants were rare. The consequences of Mom's decision had an impact on the entire family. I hope you enjoy the first chapter, below.