Join us at the JCCMW for an evening of laughter, insightful conversation, and community with author Gila Pfeffer and local Instagram Mom Caitlin Murray as they discuss Gila’s memoir, Nearly Departed: Adventures in Loss, Cancer, and Other Inconveniences. Adult drinks and light bites will be served.
Single Admission: $18
Books will be available for purchase.
About the Book
Nearly Departed: Adventures in Loss, Cancer, and Other Inconveniences is a sharp, funny, and heartfelt memoir of losing both parents to cancer and the daring choices author Gila Pfeffer made to avoid the same early demise. This memoir follows her journey as she becomes a reluctant expert on how to sit shiva, grows up, falls in love, and enters motherhood, before her life is derailed yet again. Her double mastectomy reveals cancer already growing in one breast.
After enduring eight rounds of chemo and the removal of her ovaries, she takes her last-ever dip in the mikvah waters as a bald, menopausal, 35-year-old mother of four. With chutzpah honed over years of repeatedly surviving the worst, she manages to save her own life.
About the Presenters
Gila Pfeffer is a Jewish American writer and humorist. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, Today.com, and elsewhere. Gila’s monthly “Feel It on the First” campaign reminds women to prioritize their breast health. She splits her time between New York City and London.
Caitlin Murray is a humorist, content creator, writer, podcaster, mother of three, and wife of one. She is the creator of Big Time Adulting. In 2016, Caitlin’s oldest child was diagnosed with leukemia at age three. Caitlin began sharing with family and friends about their journey and, specifically, her experience as a mother. Caitlin started her Instagram account in 2018 and has amassed over a million followers who appreciate her for her honest and humorous takes on motherhood.
