Alena Dillon

"A life-altering debut featuring fierce, funny, and irreverent women who battle the most powerful institution in the world. This is the book we've all been waiting for."--Amy Schumer A powerful debut novel of a refuge in Brooklyn for women in trouble--and the one woman who will risk all to protect them. In the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn stands a century-old row house presided over by renegade, silver-haired Sister Evelyn. Gruff and indomitable on the surface, warm and wry underneath, Evelyn and her fellow sisters makes Mercy House a safe haven for the abused and abandoned. Women like Lucia, who arrives in the dead of night; Mei-Li, the Chinese and Russian house veteran; Desiree, a loud and proud prostitute; Esther, a Haitian immigrant and aspiring collegiate; and Katrina, knitter of lumpy scarves... all of them know what it's like to be broken by men. Little daunts Evelyn, until she receives word that Bishop Robert Hawkins is coming to investigate Mercy House and the nuns, whose secret efforts to help the women in ways forbidden by the Church may be uncovered. But Evelyn has secrets too, dark enough to threaten everything she has built. Evelyn will do anything to protect Mercy House and the vibrant, diverse women it serves--confront gang members, challenge her beliefs, even face her past. As she fights to defend all that she loves, she discovers the extraordinary power of mercy and the grace it grants, not just to those who receive it, but to those strong enough to bestow it.

Mercy House

From the acclaimed author of Mercy House comes a gripping novel about a young woman's dreams of being an Olympic gymnast--and the dark history that one has to keep secret on the road to the top. For Sera Wheeler the Olympics is the reason for everything: it's why she trains thirty hours a week, starves herself to under 100 pounds, and pops Advil like Tic Tacs. For her mother, it's a means to achieve the glory she never had. It's why she rises before dawn to drive Sera to practice. And why the family scrimps, saves, and fractures. It's why, when her best friend and fellow elite gymnast reports their doctor to the authority who selects the Olympic Team, Sera denies all that she knows about his treatments. Their friendship shatters. But Sera protected her dream--didn't she? Sera doubles down, enlisting an abusive coach, numbing torn muscles, turning to Adderall for extra energy and focus, and then upping her dose. Soon, she isn't training for the love of the sport. She's training to make her disloyalty worthwhile. No matter the cost. The Happiest Girl in the World explores the dark history behind an athlete who stands on the world stage, biting down on a gold medal. It's about the sacrifices a parent will make for a child, even as a family is torn apart. It's about the price of pursuing greatness.

A Novel

The Happiest Girl in the World

Eyes Turned Skyward

"Eyes Turned Skyward is a powerful examination of the cost—emotional, familial, generational—when women are denied their right to soar... Alena Dillon's poetic prose and complex characters will linger long after the last page is turned!" — Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author From the author of Mercy House and The Happiest Girl in the World comes a brilliant, dual timeline novel about a daughter discovering her mother’s past as a female pilot during World War II and the consequences of women’s contributions remaining unrecognized. Kathy Begley is an empty nester, the primary caretaker of her ailing mother, and the emotional support for her laid-off husband. She’s also returning to the office after two decades to work under a borderline inappropriate boss. Then a Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony invitation arrives, and she uncovers an unfathomable family secret: her mother, Peggy Mayfield, wasn’t just a tempestuous wife and mother. She was a Women Airforce Service Pilot. Peggy jumped at the opportunity to become a WASP, the first American females to fly military aircraft. She wore men’s uniforms, sweated, studied, trained, and soared. She also danced, drank, played poker, and fell in love with adventure, new friends, and her commanding officer. Once a spunky flyer, Peggy is now filled with regret as she confronts the end of her life, but Kathy is determined to make her last months count by securing Peggy long overdue recognition, appreciating her anew, and forgiving her before it’s too late. Eyes Turned Skyward is an unforgettable novel about unheralded female heroism, the transformation of misogyny, inheritance, and ultimately, reconciliation.

My Body Is A Big Fat Temple is a memoir that charts the emotional journey of becoming a mother with humor and honesty, as well as investigating the natal shortcomings of our culture. It tracks Dillon, a writer in her thirties, as she debates having children, and then suffers a miscarriage, morning sickness, physical changes and impairments, anxiety, labor and delivery, breastfeeding, the "baby blues," the heartache of not loving her son as she thinks she should, parenting during a plague, and finally blossoming into her new identity as a mother. This isn't the airbrushed billboard for motherhood women are too-often presented to preserve the sacred image of Madonna and Baby. Dillon prepares her readers for what to really expect--dry heaves, belly hair, dark nipples, crotch lightning, sweat, pain, delirium, lots of tears, and ultimately joy--so the odyssey is given its fair due. The cost of creating life is astronomical. It requires resilience and strength (and lots of bathroom breaks). But more importantly, these truths need to be shared in order to normalize them. With more stories like these, women with reservations for motherhood, and those in the midst of its fever dream, won't feel so alone. Pregnancy is a human imperative, endured by so many, and yet there is very little narrative nonfiction on the topic--I looked--which only makes the experience more isolating. The stories of women matter. The stories of mothers matter. Let's make ourselves heard.

Alena Dillon

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