On Tour 05/04/25-06/23/25 “Always There, Always Gone” by Marty Ross-Dolen

Release Date: May 6, 2025

About The Book:

In her poignant, genre-bending, grandmother-mother-daughter memoir, ALWAYS THERE, ALWAYS GONE, Ross-Dolen mixes ‘wisps’—long and short form prose, photos, erasure poetry, and letters—to explore the tragic deaths of her grandparents and the difficulty of growing up with a mother suffering from protracted grief. The fragmented, non-linear narrative reflects Marty’s journey grappling with intergenerational trauma.

Marty’s family founded the iconic Highlights for Children magazine. In 1960, on their way from Columbus, Ohio, to New York City for meetings about newsstand placement, her grandparents were killed in an airline disaster involving the collision of two commercial jets. Marty’s mother was fourteen.

For Marty’s entire childhood and much of her adulthood, she shielded her mother from further pain even as Marty yearned to know her grandmother. Research and family stories revealed her grandmother to have been a vibrant, bright, confident woman. But it was only by imagining conversations and meetings with her grandmother that Marty felt a connection. In this haunting, loving, and moving memoir, Marty Ross-Dolen pays tribute to a remarkable woman she never knew and lays bare the ways in which grief shapes us all.

About The Author:

MARTY ROSS-DOLEN is a graduate of Wellesley College and Albert Einstein College of Medicine and is a retired child and adolescent psychiatrist. She holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Prior to her time at VCFA, she participated in graduate-level workshops at The Ohio State University. Her essays have appeared in North Dakota Quarterly, Redivider, Lilith, and Willow Review, among others. Her essay entitled “Diphtheria” was named a notable essay in The Best American Essays series. She lives in Columbus, Ohio. Learn more at martyrossdolen.com

Social Media:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marymrossdolen

Book Blurbs:

“Using lyrical prose and startling imagery, Marty Ross-Dolen tells the story of a life marked forever by a past family tragedy. This deeply haunting and tremendously moving work of beauty offers a rare and genuine glimpse into the way a heart can both break and mend at once.”—Bret Lott, author of Jewel, an Oprah Book Club pick, and Before We Get Started: A Practical Memoir of the Writer’s Life

“A tragic accident, an inherited trauma, a fierce desire to protect. These are the threads Marty Ross-Dolen weaves in Always There, Always Gone. Searching for a grandmother she never knew, Ross-Dolen forges connections between three generations—grandmother, mother, daughter—in this wise and moving memoir. Innovative in its approach, Always There, Always Gone reminds us of the resilience of the human spirit and the ties that bind.”—Lee Martin, author of the Pulitzer Prize Finalist, The Bright Forever

Bloggers On Tour:

May 4th- Plains Reading https://instagram.com/plains_reading

May 4th- Books and Coffee MX https://instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx

May 6th- On A Sandbar https://www.instagram.com/on_a_sandbar

May 8th- Lindas Book Obsession https://www.facebook.com/lindasbookobsession/

May 19th-Reading Is My Remedy https://instagram.com/reading_is_my_remedy

May 20th-Tammy Reads https://instagram.com/tammyreads62

May 23rd- Nurse Bookie https://instagram.com/nurse_bookie

May 27th- Cassie’s Book Reviews https://instagram.com/cassies_books_reviews

May 29th- Rozier Reads and Wine https://instagram.com/rozierreadsandwine

June 8th – Subakka Bookstuff https://instagram.com/subakka.bookstuff

June 9th- Love My Books 2020 https://instagram.com/lovemybooks2020