This is a story of love, grief, and moving forward,
even years after the loss.
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For Judy Lipson, her sisters were her compass, constant, champions, and competitors and for thirty years she suppressed the grief of losing her two beloved sisters. Judy lost her younger sister Jane at age twenty-two in an automobile accident and nine years later her older sister Margie at age thirty-five to a twenty year battle with anorexia and bulimia.
It was not until 2011 that Judy began her journey to mourn for Margie and Jane. Judy experienced the reality that those who lose siblings are the forgotten mourners and they are left to take care of their parents and children. The impact of their loss takes a back seat. Through her participation and work prescribed in a complicated grief study, Judy learned to restore her well-being, happy memories of her sisters, and the passion the three of them had for figure skating. By bringing her sisters and their memories together more present in her life, Judy found peace. |
Purchase links:
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Interview with Judy Lipson, author of "Celebration of Sisters: It Is Never Too Late To Grieve"
You can read the first chapter here:
Listen to the audiobook sample here:
To honor the memory of her sisters, Judy created and continues to hold,
Celebration of Sisters, an annual ice skating fundraiser which benefits Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
Reading Guide
Awards
Reviews
"With her memoir Celebration of Sisters, Judy Lipson breaks her family’s traditional code of silence by sharing her story —stark, candid, and impassioned: a love letter to her sisters. By describing her role as the middle sister in a sister trio, and remembering the lives and premature deaths of both of her sisters—one to a car accident, and the other to a chronic eating disorder—Judy bravely faces these great losses, and in turn, moves through her grief. Told through vivid memories from early childhood through adulthood, the arc of Judy’s story engages the reader with its intimacy. The message, that talking openly about loss and mental health is healing, will resound with readers from all walks of life."
– Kamryn T. Eddy, Ph.D and Jennifer J. Thomas, Ph.D Co-Directors, Eating Disorders Clinical and Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital Associate Professors, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
“Author Judy Lipson shares with her readers beautiful, poignant family memories that bring tears and smiles and ultimately presents a story of survival and yearning for better days. Judy’s book will touch your heart from beginning to end and inspire with the simple message, out of loss and despair there is hope.”
– Joanne Vassallo Jamrosz, author of the Skating Forward series
“Judy’s story is so moving, from the time she was a young woman up until now, building such strength through family tragedy. So inspiring!”
− Randy Gardner, Two-time Olympian, U.S. World Pair Champion
We will always carry the people we love most with us throughout our lives. It took a while for Judy Lipson to figure this out and not feel overwhelmed; even seeing people who knew her sisters was a harsh reminder of their passing. Lipson grew up tight-lipped, unable to express her grief for over thirty years. Lipson writes about losing her sisters, one to an accident and the other to a long, hard battle with mental illness. With this book, Lipson hopes to connect with people who feel the same inability to grieve their loss and help them.
The bond between siblings is a powerful thing. In Judy Lipson’s Celebration of Sisters: It’s Never Too Late to Grieve, we learn of Lipson’s greatest tragedies and the grief she has over losing two of the most important people in her life, and the journey she has taken to heal from their loss. The book starts with the harrowing stories of Jane and Margie’s deaths. Lipson’s grief is palpable through her strong writing; her readers will feel the hard, cold reality of her loss. Starting with the loss of her sisters, Lipson helps readers to slowly understand her upheaval and why it took so long for her to find help.
Lipson shares memories from her childhood. These heart-warming stories relieve the depressing atmosphere of the book and encourage readers to continue with Lipson through her journey of healing. This is a very emotional story that will certainly tug at the heart. Readers will be overcome with empathy, but the story is ultimately uplifting.
Lipson’s story of the passing of her sisters creates a strong foundation for the story structure. As we continue on to the beginning of Lipson’s life, working our way through her childhood and slowly into adulthood while revisiting her sisters’ deaths; this creates an almost half biography/diary sort of structure that is a bit chaotic, at times jumping around the timeline of Lipson’s life, but otherwise engaging. While I enjoyed all the memoires that Lipson shares throughout this impassioned memoir, I felt that some of the memoires were repeated, which sometimes helped to reaffirm the scene but other times it felt repetitious.
I found this book to be a heart-aching reminder of my own loss. As a very empathetic person, I could not help but shed a few tears when I read about Margie and Jane. Even though this was an emotionally difficult book to read, I would recommend it to anyone who struggles with the grief of losing loved ones.
Celebration of Sisters is a sentimental view into the life of someone who experienced tragedy and came out the other side to tell her story, and the story of those that are now gone. Readers who are looking for an emotionally honest and engrossing biography will find this book hard to put down.
- Literary Titan (4 stars)
This book came at the perfect time for me. I also had lost a sibling years ago and years later I still have regrets about how I dealt with the grieving process and my lost years. I read the entire book in about 2 days, it was a fast read. I truly cared about the author and her sisters and loved the memories and closeness of the 3 sisters. I learned much about ways to grieve as well while feeling like part of her family.
This book can help people that feel that they don't know what to do after losing someone as well as those that try therapy or a support group and give up when they don't immediately feel healed. I appreciated that she didn't just share what the grief was like right after the loss but decades later the impact it could have.
The fact that she found a way to turn pain into making a difference to other's is truly inspiring. This book had a very authentic, human quality to it and I truly was sad for it to end.
Judy, I can truly say your sisters would be very proud both of the book and the person you have become.
Suzanne Renee (5 Stars)
I was drawn to this memoir because I have an older sister who enjoys ice skating. The book begins with the deaths of Judy’s sisters, which was jarring. I was hoping to get to know the sisters a little before learning about their deaths, but at the same time it set the tone for what the memoir is.
The writing was very matter-of-fact, and I would’ve preferred a bit more flourish to the language. However, perhaps this story needed to be told straight. I enjoyed learning about Jane and Margie throughout their childhoods the most, but the grief study chapters were also very interesting.
Something I noted was that Margie’s death was ambiguous. It’s described as being caused by her eating disorder but also blamed on her battle with mental illness. I couldn’t understand if her death had been self-inflicted or not. This isn’t important to the story, of course, and perhaps the author didn’t feel comfortable sharing the details. It was just a question that weighed on my mind and continues to linger.
A novel like this is difficult to critique because it deals with such a sensitive topic and is so personal to many people. I was touched by the stories, adored the photographs included, and found myself tearing up at times thinking of what it might be like to lose my own sister. I settled on a three star rating because the writing style was a little too straightforward for my personal liking and I think the order the story is told in would be more effective if done differently. I recommend this book for anyone struggling with grief, I think some of the lessons Judy learned would be very helpful to others.
Thank you NetGalley and BQB Publishing for an advanced e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Kylie Burns (3 stars)
– Kamryn T. Eddy, Ph.D and Jennifer J. Thomas, Ph.D Co-Directors, Eating Disorders Clinical and Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital Associate Professors, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
“Author Judy Lipson shares with her readers beautiful, poignant family memories that bring tears and smiles and ultimately presents a story of survival and yearning for better days. Judy’s book will touch your heart from beginning to end and inspire with the simple message, out of loss and despair there is hope.”
– Joanne Vassallo Jamrosz, author of the Skating Forward series
“Judy’s story is so moving, from the time she was a young woman up until now, building such strength through family tragedy. So inspiring!”
− Randy Gardner, Two-time Olympian, U.S. World Pair Champion
We will always carry the people we love most with us throughout our lives. It took a while for Judy Lipson to figure this out and not feel overwhelmed; even seeing people who knew her sisters was a harsh reminder of their passing. Lipson grew up tight-lipped, unable to express her grief for over thirty years. Lipson writes about losing her sisters, one to an accident and the other to a long, hard battle with mental illness. With this book, Lipson hopes to connect with people who feel the same inability to grieve their loss and help them.
The bond between siblings is a powerful thing. In Judy Lipson’s Celebration of Sisters: It’s Never Too Late to Grieve, we learn of Lipson’s greatest tragedies and the grief she has over losing two of the most important people in her life, and the journey she has taken to heal from their loss. The book starts with the harrowing stories of Jane and Margie’s deaths. Lipson’s grief is palpable through her strong writing; her readers will feel the hard, cold reality of her loss. Starting with the loss of her sisters, Lipson helps readers to slowly understand her upheaval and why it took so long for her to find help.
Lipson shares memories from her childhood. These heart-warming stories relieve the depressing atmosphere of the book and encourage readers to continue with Lipson through her journey of healing. This is a very emotional story that will certainly tug at the heart. Readers will be overcome with empathy, but the story is ultimately uplifting.
Lipson’s story of the passing of her sisters creates a strong foundation for the story structure. As we continue on to the beginning of Lipson’s life, working our way through her childhood and slowly into adulthood while revisiting her sisters’ deaths; this creates an almost half biography/diary sort of structure that is a bit chaotic, at times jumping around the timeline of Lipson’s life, but otherwise engaging. While I enjoyed all the memoires that Lipson shares throughout this impassioned memoir, I felt that some of the memoires were repeated, which sometimes helped to reaffirm the scene but other times it felt repetitious.
I found this book to be a heart-aching reminder of my own loss. As a very empathetic person, I could not help but shed a few tears when I read about Margie and Jane. Even though this was an emotionally difficult book to read, I would recommend it to anyone who struggles with the grief of losing loved ones.
Celebration of Sisters is a sentimental view into the life of someone who experienced tragedy and came out the other side to tell her story, and the story of those that are now gone. Readers who are looking for an emotionally honest and engrossing biography will find this book hard to put down.
- Literary Titan (4 stars)
This book came at the perfect time for me. I also had lost a sibling years ago and years later I still have regrets about how I dealt with the grieving process and my lost years. I read the entire book in about 2 days, it was a fast read. I truly cared about the author and her sisters and loved the memories and closeness of the 3 sisters. I learned much about ways to grieve as well while feeling like part of her family.
This book can help people that feel that they don't know what to do after losing someone as well as those that try therapy or a support group and give up when they don't immediately feel healed. I appreciated that she didn't just share what the grief was like right after the loss but decades later the impact it could have.
The fact that she found a way to turn pain into making a difference to other's is truly inspiring. This book had a very authentic, human quality to it and I truly was sad for it to end.
Judy, I can truly say your sisters would be very proud both of the book and the person you have become.
Suzanne Renee (5 Stars)
I was drawn to this memoir because I have an older sister who enjoys ice skating. The book begins with the deaths of Judy’s sisters, which was jarring. I was hoping to get to know the sisters a little before learning about their deaths, but at the same time it set the tone for what the memoir is.
The writing was very matter-of-fact, and I would’ve preferred a bit more flourish to the language. However, perhaps this story needed to be told straight. I enjoyed learning about Jane and Margie throughout their childhoods the most, but the grief study chapters were also very interesting.
Something I noted was that Margie’s death was ambiguous. It’s described as being caused by her eating disorder but also blamed on her battle with mental illness. I couldn’t understand if her death had been self-inflicted or not. This isn’t important to the story, of course, and perhaps the author didn’t feel comfortable sharing the details. It was just a question that weighed on my mind and continues to linger.
A novel like this is difficult to critique because it deals with such a sensitive topic and is so personal to many people. I was touched by the stories, adored the photographs included, and found myself tearing up at times thinking of what it might be like to lose my own sister. I settled on a three star rating because the writing style was a little too straightforward for my personal liking and I think the order the story is told in would be more effective if done differently. I recommend this book for anyone struggling with grief, I think some of the lessons Judy learned would be very helpful to others.
Thank you NetGalley and BQB Publishing for an advanced e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Kylie Burns (3 stars)
