A brave, honest, and touching story about a point of no return

For My Life is a story about the aging of a woman. The novel contemplates the essence of independence and one’s own body, the connections one creates with family and friends, and the transience of life.

A woman’s life as an artist and the mother of four children has kept her in motion incessantly. She’s found meaning in the needs and hopes of others. Once her children leave their childhood home, she needs to find purpose for her days once again. Freedom is difficult to grasp, the future is hard to see.

When the old family summer villa is sold, it’s time to dispose of things. Important memories. The clear fall air sees the woman set out on her own for the villa where no one is waiting for her – no one except inevitable change. She goes through her life and, amidst the silence, she finds a path to follow.

For My Life is a bare, brave, and honest novel. Its tone is easily recognizable as having the same beauty as Hanna Brotherus’ debut novel My Only Home, which gained immense popularity within an exceptionally large readership.

When her children leave their home, a woman wants to take a deep dive into the past. She wants to understand all the lives she has lived, to examine whose eyes she has seen herself through, to understand what she still has ahead of her. And she wants to have a fresh start in everything possible.

An uncompromising journey into the truth behind memories begins. All of the old wounds and traumas, some spanning generations, are ripped open and exposed with uncompromising honesty, revealing a life punctured by sorrow, illness, pressures, and death. The gates are wide open when the woman realizes she is the most important person in her life. Her body is her only home.

This heart-rending debut novel by the dancer, director, and choreographer, Hanna Brotherus, moves through a woman’s different life stages without excessive embellishment and in a relatable way. MY ONLY HOME is a fearless autofictive novel about the frenzy for life and the acceptance of incompleteness. Reader feedback emphasizes the moving and striking honesty in the book and how well one can identify with it. The book moves, touches, cleanses and has a profound impact.