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“Unstitched is riveting, compassionate, topical, and one of the best books I’ve read this year. Stanciu, in beautiful prose, takes on the impact of the opioid epidemic on a small Vermont town with the gusto and suspense of a fine mystery novel, and the empathy that only a truly fine observer of the human condition could muster. Highly recommended.”
— Thomas Christopher Greene, author of The Headmaster’s Wife and The Perfect Liar, Founding President of Vermont College of Fine Arts -
“Unstitched should be mandatory reading. It is a heartbreaking, raw, tender and revelatory look at addiction and its pervasive grip on ourselves, our families, our communities, and our rural towns. It is also a sublimely written narrative of transformation, vulnerability, discovery and love. This book undid me as I read—taking me into the heart of suffering, revealing my own habits, biases and fears—and then it gathered those pieces together and braided them into something new: a vision of hope, connection, possibility and healing for us all. Stanciu’s courage, generosity, curiosity and gorgeous words are the very best of guides.”
— Robin MacArthur, author of Heart Spring Mountain and Half Wild 
Tag Archives: #Vermont
Dirty Dishes
I had dinner in someone else’s house. Big deal? It’s been a very, very long, a pre-pandemic time. At the end of an afternoon of a school board retreat, we kept sitting around the table, eating and refiling our plates, … Continue reading
Rich
Snow drifts down this morning, officially or not marking the beginning of winter. As always, the cats and I are the first awake in our house, the cats hungry for a bowl of food and then sprawling on the rug, … Continue reading
Scars, Somewhere in November, 2020
Every morning, a hard frost sugarcoats our world. Before the snow falls in earnest, my daughter drives, logging in hours and experience with her driver’s permit. We head out one way and take a different road back home. Inadvertently, wandering, … Continue reading
Sunset, Skunk, State Police
Before I leave work yesterday afternoon, I stack piles of papers labeled with stickies in my scrawled handwriting — a roadmap for myself for the next day’s work. Outside, the sunset is crazy beautiful. I drive home, listening to VPR. … Continue reading
The Right Thing
On a walk my daughters and I often take in the evening, we pass a house where a little black cat trots out to meet us. The cat’s tail is bony, its nose white as if dipped into a saucer … Continue reading
The Long Haul
After work, it’s too dark to go running, and I’m home in a foul mood while my daughters cook dinner. While cleaning out a closet that afternoon, they discovered a box of photographs and claimed the photos were evidence there … Continue reading
Once in a Blue Moon
Saturday, we were at a jack o’ lantern walk at the elementary school where my youngest graduated a few years ago. Because it’s rural Vermont, it was dark, and everyone was spread out. I slipped away from the few kids … Continue reading
High School in the Time of Covid
My daughter’s high school varsity soccer team, the Lady Cats, advanced into the playoffs — local joy against rising Covid rates and the election hurtling along. I didn’t play sports as a student, the lone wolf who ran long solitary … Continue reading
Asking for Good News
Every few days or so, a friend and I email back and forth, asking for good news. Occasionally, it’s utterly knock-it-out-of-the-park news — I finished this revision of my book — but more often the meaningful mundaneness of everyday life. … Continue reading
Half Moon
I step around the barn in the twilight and see the half moon shimmering above the barn’s back corner, like a surprise. I empty the ash bucket and set it on the cement step, waiting for my daughters and our … Continue reading
