The Wrong Calamity

A Memoir

By: Marsha Jacobson

Narrated by: Marsha Jacobson

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

Grappling with neglect, eating disorders, domestic violence, single parenthood, and the contagiousness of trauma, The Wrong Calamity is a powerful story of calamity, discovery, and triumph.

Marsha, a freshman lacking self-confidence, falls prey to a controlling man at college. Afraid to say no, she agrees to marry him and move to Japan, where she unexpectedly gets a job at Mattel Toys. As she becomes successful, her husband becomes more abusive. Back in America, she and their two toddlers escape from him in a dramatic police chase. Determined to succeed, she earns a Harvard MBA and builds a career, all while raising her girls and fending off her vengeful ex-husband. Later, she marries a former colleague. Their marriage is joyful—until his buried past reveals itself and shatters their marriage, her career, and many close relationships.

With brave honesty, Marsha gives voice to the lived experience of grief and shares her insights on how she became resilient, rediscovered herself, and now has a happy, fulfilling life. The Wrong Calamity is a compelling and inspiring memoir.

Author Bio:

Marsha Jacobson lives in New York City and is an author, teacher, and writing coach. Her work has appeared in the New York Times; the Visible Ink anthology; and the flash fiction anthology, For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn. Her memoir, The Wrong Calamity, is her debut book. Previously, she was an executive in corporations and nonprofits and a consultant to nonprofits.

©2023 Marsha Jacobson (P)2024 Marsha Jacobson

Enthralling, beautifully written, five stars!

Marsha Jacobson's journey through body dysmophia, low self esteem, marital challenges, corporate shenanigans and single parenting are not new memoir topics. I can rattle off a half dozen titles i have recently read as I sought solutions within my own experiences in all of the above ... and more.

However, I "sampled" Ms Jacobson's own read of her memoir and her voice sold me within a sentence. This is the woman. This is the voice. I am in for the ride of one woman's life and within her words will be compelling opportunities to learn more of why my footsteps took me down certain challenging paths.

Because this is why we read, we listen.

Thanks and a tip of my hat to Ms Jacobson, well done and not a word out of place -- just so you know, at the end of the day, I am looking for me. And indeed more of 'me' was that bit more awake and aware to my choices and their consequences than I had been 8 hours and 12 minutes earlier.

i believe this memoir will ring most surely true with the mature amongst Audible listeners. The young single mother of toddlers facing a long night shift and rent payment worries will surely find encouragement and that precious gift of hope that unexpected gifts and serendipitous moments when it can all change for the better. Seize those moments! Trust that whatever is before you, you can handle! And the newly divorced, the recently widowed, the woman -- or man! well done you, male/transgender person who picks up this read! -- slips into the newly solitary bed, the single cup of coffee facing a day of solitude or creating busyness to work through hours until night, will also find "Aha!" moments. And that would be me.

There is a moment within this memoir which, if, trusting you are alert and discerning, you will pause this recording. "What in the world just happened and how with all I know of myself and the other she presents as in this room would I handle this dangerous moment?" Do. Pause. Do. Ask. Of self. Because this is not a computer simulation, this is not a laptop game. This is a real as it gets ... what do I do?

For many of us, time to listen to an audiobook has to be honed into our everyday life. I have listened on all our major transport options, in laundromats, on city and country walks, making meals, at bedtime. I foumd myself making this listen a priority, not even a cup of coffee or a snack. Just me, my chair by the window overlooking the streets in a sunny Portuguese town and a respectful surrender to her memoir, letting it flow through my body and soul. And every moment was worth every moment of my time, too!