In-store event with authors Sally McQuillen & Carol Odell

Description

One night, two authors!  Join us at Lake Forest Book Store as we welcome authors Sally McQuillen & Carol Odell:

REACHING FOR BEAUTIFUL

&

GIRL, GROOMED

Wednesday, May 28th, 2025 6pm - 7:00pm

at Lake Forest Book Store

662 N. Western Avenue

Lake Forest, IL 60045

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

RSVP at 847-234-4420

REACHING FOR BEAUTIFUL: A luminous story of how love triumphs over pain, love transcends fear, and love never dies; this debut memoir from a mother grieving her young-adult son’s death is a must-read for any parent who has lost a child, is raising a child from the edge of their seat, or whose family struggles with addiction.

When Sally’s twenty-one-year-old son died in a boat accident, her greatest fear is realized. Christopher was often drawn to risk and struggled with addiction. In this riveting memoir, Sally captures the wild ride of his jam-packed life and her deep love for him while reflecting on her own childhood and family’s legacy of alcoholism.

Sally shares insights about what it’s like to experience the emotional aftershocks of acute grief, filtered through the lens of her personal experience as a mother and her professional vantage point as a psychotherapist. Even if they have not been touched by loss in this way, readers may see themselves in Sally’s bittersweet illusion of trying to keep her son safe, in how she is challenged to let go of her fear, guilt, and regret in order to forgive herself, and in the ways grief teaches her about the power of love.

Sally McQuillen, LCSW, CADC, is a psychotherapist in private practice specializing in addiction, grief and trauma recovery. An avid reader with a double major in writing and dance criticism in college, she began working in public relations and marketing prior to obtaining her master's degree in social work. Reaching for Beautiful is Sally's first book. She and her husband live on the north shore of Chicago where they raised their three children.

GIRL, GROOMED: Raw and riveting, Girl, Groomed is seasoned psychotherapist Carol Odell’s evolving story of coming to terms with the impacts of her own history of sexual abuse and violence at the hands of a predatory horse trainer who, for far too much of her young life, held all the reins. Set in the equestrian world of Virginia, this candid memoir details how, starting at ten years old, Carol falls under the spell of Clarentine, the charismatic—and explosively violent—owner of the stables just down the hill from her house. In tandem with that story, Carol examines the multi-faceted consequences of the complex trauma that resulted from the exploitive relationship Clarentine cultivated with her—including the resulting crisis she blindly imposes on her marriage. Chapters toggle back and forth between scenes of her childhood growing up jumping horses on the show circuit and the therapy sessions she later undergoes as an adult.

Carol Odell, LICSW, grew up riding horses on the show pumping circuit in Virginia.  She has been practicing psychotherapist facilitating groups and working with couples and individuals since 1984. Married for thirty-eight years and the mother of a grown son, her other passions include: squash, pickleball, partner dancing, mosaics, writing, hiking, traveling, and being in community with friends and family.  She and her husband currently split their time between Seattle and Cle Elum, Washington.