Permanent Marker
A Memoir
About the Book
Aimee Ross was living a perfectly normal life raising three kids, married to her high school sweetheart, and teaching at her high school alma mater.
Life was perfect—right until it wasn’t.
Unhappy in her marriage, Aimee asked for a divorce. Three days later, she suffered a heart attack at age forty-one. Five months after that, she survived a near-fatal car crash caused by an intoxicated driver.
Her physical recovery took months and left her body marked by scars. The emotional recovery, though, would take longer, as Aimee sought to forgive the man who almost killed her—and to forgive herself for tearing apart her family.
Aimee Ross writes with candor, wit, and humor as she finds the power in her story and chronicles her transformation into the woman she was always meant to be.
Permanent Marker takes readers on a journey of healing, proving that from darkness can come new light, new love, and a renewed purpose for life.
Endorsements & Reviews
“In Permanent Marker, Aimee Ross doesn’t shy away from telling the hard truths of tragedy. She explores her own, personal trauma with raw honesty from her newly re-charged heart while searching for that trauma’s meaning with a candid, conversational style. Aimee’s story reminds us that even when our truths don’t reveal themselves in the ways we wish they would, we can always choose how those truths shape, rather than define, our lives.”
“The writing is…superb. … I was really inspired by this story.”
“Ross’ narrative sidesteps basic conventions … It has moments of surprise wit, compassion, and forgiveness, even for those who may not seem to deserve it.”
“Filled with brutal honesty, heartbreak and humor, Aimee Ross’ gut-wrenching story is an inspiring portrait of strength and resilience. Aimee, a truly gifted, creative and award-winning high school teacher, discovers that it was her students who help her abandon her fears, renew her passion for teaching, and find the joy and meaning in her spared life… sharing a lesson that can help any one of us in our personal or professional life.”
“Aimee Ross sees the patterns of literature weaving through life. So when she is slammed with catastrophes that shatter her body and threaten her soul, she finds signposts to recovery through foreshadowing, symbols and yes, irony—which makes hers not just a resurrection story, but one laced with laughs.”
“Aimee Ross spares no details in her raw, unflinching account of what it means to have your life torn apart—physically and emotionally. Permanent Marker is a remarkable story of healing, courage, and finding the strength it takes to rewrite your life’s story.”
“A devastating car accident could have been the end of her story, but Aimee Ross possesses an indomitable spirit and fierce humor that breathes new life into every page. Clear-eyed and open-hearted, Ross throws open the curtain to her hospital room, revisiting the harrowing, daily details of her trauma and recovery, writing herself to wholeness, and reminding us all of the crucial difference between merely surviving and making a decision to live.”
In the News
9 Things I’ve Learned about Teaching Writing (Teacher’s Discovery)
Review: Recovery, Survival, & Forgiveness (Coil Magazine)
Essay: Cross Purposes (The Manifest Station by Jennifer Pastiloff)
Author Q&A (American Society of Journalists and Authors)
Author interview (La Femme De Prose podcast)
Author interview with Aimee Ross (MyNDTalk Radio)
Q&A with Aimee Ross (BooksbyWomen.org)
Blog Tour: J. Bronder Book Reviews
Blog Tour: Goodbye Halcyon Days
Blog Tour: Katherine’s Book Universe
Blog Tour: Christian Author Chick
About the Author
Aimee Ross is a nationally award-winning educator who has been a high school English teacher for the past twenty-five years and an aspiring writer for as long as she can remember. She completed her MFA in Creative Non-Fiction Writing at Ashland University in 2014, but she also dabbles in fiction and poetry. Her writing has been published on www.lifein10minutes.com, www.SixHens.Com, and in Scars: An Anthology (Et Alia Press, 2015); Today I Made a Difference: A Collection of Inspirational Stories from America’s Top Educators (Adams Media, 2009); and Teaching Tolerance magazine.
Ordering Information for Bookstores and Libraries
Permanent Marker: A Memoir
$18.95 ISBN 978-0-9991581-0-4 (paperback)
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs
Please call 937-483-4204 for special pricing and shipping information for bulk orders.
Permanent Marker is distributed by Baker & Taylor Publisher Services.
