Lisa Brener

Beauty Laid Bare: A Memoir is a stunning, fresh story from author Lisa Brener. Lyrically crafted, this is a propulsive read, vibrantly bringing us Lisa’s coming of age story, set in New Orleans in the 50s and 60s. Lisa’s writes with insight and depth about her Jewish childhood and adolescence, within the compelling context of the first and second-generation Jewish immigrants established in New Orleans. Emotionally isolated by her unhappy family life, Lisa desperately desires to transcend this pain through a creative life and connection to a larger world. As a plucky eleven-year-old, Lisa sneaks out of the house and hops a streetcar downtown to audition for a local theater production and lands a leading role. In traversing from early success on the stage to competitive Performance Arts Boarding school, far from home, Lisa has an emotional breakdown, resulting in a long stay in a mental hospital as a teenager. Lisa shares an incredible journey of how she overcame the challenges that beset her, her deep desire to live and create, finally going on to college and law school. Lisa not only survives but learns how to thrive, becoming one of the best labor attorneys in Louisiana and starting her own law firm.

Lisa writes with compassion and understanding of family members, especially her mother, of both the darkness and the light of each character. Lisa finally comes to terms with her relationship with her mother, who ultimately takes her own life, when Lisa is in her late 20s and a new mother herself. This moving and compelling ending is a beautiful meditation on forgiveness and gratitude, and our ability to see beauty everywhere in our lives.