Fifty-seven Fridays

Losing Our Daughter, Finding Our Way

Myra Sack

Hardcover w/ dust jacket
9781958972250
US $27.99 Indiepubs Bookshop Amazon Barnes & Noble
eBook available
April 2024

“A wondrous, hopeful, heart-breaking witness to one of the darkest journeys imaginable… This will be one of those rare books that people re-read, think about, and encourage others to read.” —Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D, author, with Oprah Winfrey, of What Happened to You

“I love this book. I absolutely could not put it down. It is beautifully written and cuts to the very heart of life and love: The story of Havi’s short, beautiful life and early death from Tay-Sachs is harrowing, heartbreaking, uplifting, profound and sometimes funny. Havi will charm the socks off you.”—Anne Lamott

Life is unfolding as planned for Myra Sack and her husband Matt until their beautiful year-old daughter Havi is diagnosed with Tay-Sachs, a fatal neurodegenerative disease, and given only a year to live. Myra and Matt decide to celebrate Havi’s short life and vow to show her as much of the world as they can, surrounded by friends and family who relocate to be in Havi’s orbit. Tapping their Judaism, they transform Friday night Shabbats into birthday parties—“Shabbirthdays”—to replace the birthdays Havi will never have.

Myra Sack graduated with a B.A in government and All-American Honors in 2010 from Dartmouth College, where she captained the women’s varsity soccer team. She earned a post-graduate Lombard Fellowship in Granada, Nicaragua with Soccer Without Borders. Following her lifelong passion for sports and social justice, Myra joined SquashBusters, Inc., in Boston in 2013, serving as their Chief Program and Strategy Officer. Myra has an MBA in Social Impact from Boston University and is trained as a Certified Compassionate Bereavement Care provider by Dr. Joanne Cacciatore. She serves on the Board of the Courageous Parents Network and is the Founder of E-Motion, Inc., a non-profit organization with a mission to ensure community is a right for all grieving people. A writer, coach, and activist, Myra and her husband Matt, live in Jamaica Plain, MA with their second daughter, Kaia, and son Ezra. Myra’s oldest daughter, Havi, passed away on January 20, 2021 of Tay-Sachs disease.

“A wondrous, hopeful, heart-breaking witness to one of the darkest journeys imaginable… This will be one of those rare books that people re-read, think about, and encourage others to read.” —Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D, author, with Oprah Winfrey, of What Happened to You

“I love this book. I absolutely could not put it down. It is beautifully written and cuts to the very heart of life and love: The story of Havi’s short, beautiful life and early death from Tay-Sachs is harrowing, heartbreaking, uplifting, profound and sometimes funny. Havi will charm the socks off you.” —Anne Lamott

“Required reading for any parent. The book—beautiful, propulsive, wrenching, and true—reveals the essential truth that there is no love without loss, and that we learn how to love through and within our grief.” —Emily Rapp Black, New York Times best-selling author of The Still Point of the Turning World

“Myra Sack’s memoir is a deeply personal look at her family’s resilience in the face of the unimaginable. Fifty-seven Fridays will help so many others find strength.” —Sheryl Sandberg, former COO, Facebook

“This book is both a balm and a manual for anyone who has grieved—which is to say, each and every one of us. I have never read anything like it.” —Lauren Markham, author of The Far Away Brothers

“Myra Sack does not just shine a light on the inextricable bond between grief and gratitude, anguish and joy, but also provides guidance on how to navigate the impossible.” —Beck Dorey-Stein, New York Times Best-selling author of From the Corner of the Oval

“Death is rarely simple, and the loss of a child will never be okay, yet the love that radiates from these pages has the power to mend the broken world.” —Mirabai Starr, author of God of Love and Caravan of No Despair

“The most incredible memoir… Havi’s story will break your heart and mend it bigger than before.” —Lisa Keefauver, author of Grief is a Sneaky Bitch: An Uncensored Guide to Navigating Loss

“The life Myra Sack depicts in her remarkable memoir is well lived and hard won. In determining to celebrate the life of the beautiful daughter she knows she will soon lose, she calls in love from every quarter—family, friends, community and her readers, too. As heartening as it is sad, as beautiful as it is disturbing this book is an act of grace.” —Beverly Donofrio, author of Riding in Cars with Boys 

“Achingly beautiful and wise. Fifty-Seven Fridays will transport you to a world where kindness and compassion come alive. Myra's book warmed my soul and I recommend it to all who are curious and seeking nourishment in the form of words.” —Alexi Pappas, Olympian and author of Bravey

“This profound, inspirational memoir by the mother of a baby who suffered from Tay-Sachs disease, chronicles the way her baby's brief presence on Earth defined the sacred nature of life and love.” —Shelf Awareness