AWARDS for
The Goodbye Diaries


GOLD: Grief/Grieving

Foreword INDIES


WINNER: Death & Dying

NIEA National Indie Excellence Awards


BRONZE: Death & Dying

IPPY Independent Publisher Book Awards


WINNER: Memoirs (Personal Struggle/Health Issues)

Indie Book Awards


WINNER: Best Cover Design (Non-Fiction)

Indie Book Awards


PRAISE for
The Goodbye Diaries


“Beautiful, wise, tender, and true.”

Cheryl Strayed, #1 NYT bestselling memoir Wild


“A stunning tribute to a remarkable relationship, further proof that love lives on beyond life itself.”

Hope Edelman, NYT bestselling author of Motherless Daughters


“As someone who lost my mom at the same age Marisa did, and to the same villain—cancer—The Goodbye Diaries is a sermon, a heartfelt duet, and a meditation; on mother- and daughter-hood, on unconditional love, and on the painful liberation of letting go. It is a triumph.”

Joy-Ann Reid, journalist and MSNBC anchor of “AM Joy”


“A gorgeous book that’s less of a story about loss, and more about life and the bonds that bring us together.”

Claire Bidwell Smith, The Rules of Inheritance


“Through careful reporting and heaps of creativity, Marisa Bardach Ramel has documented a powerful portrait of the surprising roles we take on, sometimes instigated by illness and imminent loss, but always out of love.”

Rebecca Soffer, coauthor, Modern Loss: Candid Conversations About Grief. Beginners Welcome.


"The Goodbye Diaries is engrossing, frank, heartbreaking, and, ultimately, inspiring. This remarkable dual memoir is far more than the sum of its parts: it’s not just the story of a mother and a daughter, but also of their unforgettable relationship, which would prove stronger than any of the devastating surprises life had in store for them."

Will Schwalbe, NYT bestselling author of The End of Your Life Book Club


"I know it could not have been easy to share such a personal story. It is a welcome addition to my collection."

Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States


“This book grabs me by the throat. Reading a mother’s thoughts and experiences, juxtaposed to a daughter’s, is wholly evocative and searing. Readers will eagerly come along for this explosive and heart-wrenching ride.”

Allison Gilbert, Passed and Present


“Sure to engage and enlighten mothers and daughters everywhere, and any reader who has ever loved and lost.”

Sarah Saffian, Ithaka: A Daughter’s Memoir of Being Found


“As a specialist in teen girls, I found The Goodbye Diaries deeply touching in its spot-on expression of the nuances that characterize mothers and daughters in what I see as the most sacred yet complex relationship. A smart and moving read that inspires the reader into clarity and gratitude for the preciousness of love and its transcendence beyond loss.”

Lucie Hemmen, PhD, psychologist and author of The Teen Girl’s Survival Guide