A Normal Life: A Memoir

In her critically acclaimed first book, Johnny’s Girl, Kim Rich presented the story of her unconventional childhood as the daughter of an Alaskan mobster and a troubled showgirl. This new memoir picks up where Johnny’s Girl left off, retelling the story of the author’s nearly lifelong pursuit to live what she thought to be “a normal life.”

Rich tugs at your heartstrings as you follow her journey toward normalcy, from her teen years, freshly orphaned, through her high school years spent couch-surfing at local families’ homes, then through her itinerant college years, a failed first marriage, and a rising career as a journalist. Through frank and down-to-earth storytelling, Rich also tells of her grandfather’s kidnapping, a frightening health crisis, and a six-year attempt to have children.

In A Normal Life, Rich recounts her vivid story of being an ordinary girl faced with extraordinary circumstances—at seemingly every turn in life—with grace, humility, and wit.