Reaching for Beautiful is the raw and hauntingly honest memoir of one mother's love for her son in both his life and death.
Sally McQuillen's son Christopher's life was cut short at the young age of 21 when he tragically drowned while away with friends.
Her memoir is essentially a sharing of the journal in which she processed the life events leading up to his death and following his tragic passing.
With raw vulnerability McQuillen recounts the lengths she and her husband went to help save Christopher from himself and his addiction to risk taking and addiction. She gives to her reader a glimpse into the emotions she experienced knowing she was unable to prevent her biggest fear from becoming reality, and a front seat to how she grieved and processed life's most unnatural occurrence, the death of one's child.
I was struck by how in the midst of her own grief she had such a keen awareness and understanding of both her husband and children's grief and was able to give words to their experience.
I am so glad that I had the opportunity to read this book both as a mother and a nurse. At times my heart broke as she shared the many ways in which she sought to find answers and consolation. Despite her values and beliefs being very different from mine reading her story and grief journey has given me another level of understanding and empathy for a tragic reality I have not had to live.

Language: frequent course language
Triggers: death of child, drug and alcohol use

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Thank you to @netgalley and @shewritespress for allowing me to preview McQuillen's debut memoir. Something tells me that this will not be the last words she will publish

A heart wrenching memoir of a mother losing her twenty-one year old son in a boating accident. It is a very honest and emotional account of her son’s life, his struggle with addiction, the family’s history of alcoholism, her struggles with grief, guilt and her unconditional love for him. The book is beautifully written, capturing all the emotions the author is experiencing. The author, Sally McQuillen, shares the story of her son’s life as well as some of her past and how it affected her and her family. She shares the devastating loss with us, how it left her reeling and searching for ways to come to terms with it. The loss consumes her at times and she struggles to find a way to go on while still keeping her love for her son with her always. A very touching and moving book. I give it 5 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on April 1, 2025.

*possible trigger warnings for child loss and addiction

This was a beautifully written book. I couldn’t imagine the pain and grief of losing a child. This was a heartbreaking story of how one mom struggles after losing her “wild child” to an accident. And all the struggles that lead up to it. It’s definitely a hard read.

Thank you @net galley for the arc.

A touching tribute and a meditation on grief as a mother copes with the loss of a son she helped through addiction. This book had more depth than I expected as the author took us from the beginning of her son's life to the end, celebrating his wins and coming to terms with his struggles and the impact they had on the whole family.

With thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

I found this book to be very moving and relevant to me. I cried through much of the book, as I lost my son, my only child in 2021. The addiction issues were familiar, as well as the power struggles with a wild child. Beautiful writing, sharing what her grief is to her.