{"product_id":"chosen-sandra-ellen-smith-9781982198251","title":"Chosen: How Opening My Home Healed My Heart","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn the tradition of \u003ci\u003eThe Glass Castle\u003c\/i\u003e, a poignant, inspirational memoir of a lonely girl who survived decades of harrowing abuse at home to open her heart and redefine what it is to be a family and a mom.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNo child should grow up like Sandi Smith. At age three, she was locked in a closet. By age eight, she was behind the wheel of a car, and by age nine, she was forced to hunt deer for food. She was bartered as a child laborer to pick pinto beans and forced to clean motel rooms by her beautiful, schizophrenic mother and perpetually angry, inventor father. For six months, she lived alone in a trailer, stealing from the local grocery store to eat. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the rich tradition of \u003ci\u003eThe Glass Castle \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eEducated\u003c\/i\u003e, Sandi recounts her heart-stopping, nomadic upbringing amid the mountains of Utah, flat farmlands of Idaho, and California sprawl, as her father's schemes and scams repeatedly failed. She escaped to college as a basketball player and worked her way through law school, rising to head of litigation for Apple and raising two children. Having built a conventional life, she never expected to re-examine the pain of her survivalist past. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA sudden move east and a chance encounter inside the parking garage at the tony, elite Sidwell Friends School forever changed Sandi's life. She intersected with three young Black men, all football players at Sidwell, on scholarship. Sandi and her family open their home to these young men, and gradually, they share their own stories of hurt and survival with the woman they call \"Momma.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFearlessly facing the challenges of race, class, prejudice, addiction, and abandonment, \u003ci\u003eChosen\u003c\/i\u003e shows us how one determined mother built a family of her choosing and recovered the affirming healing power of love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Sandra Ellen Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1982198257\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781982198251\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Simon \u0026amp; Schuster\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/11\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.13lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.83d","brand":"Sandra Ellen Smith","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48440606359807,"sku":"9781982198251","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_55026d63-40b1-427a-864e-38b10646c946.jpg?v=1777183572","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/chosen-sandra-ellen-smith-9781982198251","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}