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May 11, 2010

Cambridge Health Alliance Psychiatrist Nancy Rappaport Wins Boston Authors Club Award

Cambridge, MA…Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) psychiatrist Nancy Rappaport, MD, has been named the recipient of the 2010 Julia Ward Howe Prize by the Boston Authors Club for her memoir In Her Wake: A Child Psychiatrist Explores the Mystery of Her Mother's Suicide.

Rappaport, a Cambridge resident who is director of school-based programs at CHA and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, was presented with the award during a ceremony at the Boston Public Library on May 6.

Rappaport's mother committed suicide when the author was just four years old. In Her Wake details Rappaport's lifelong quest to know and understand the mother she never knew. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it "fearless ... a stunning narrative of perspective, profound sadness, and unrelenting hope." The Wall Street Journal named it one of the best health books of 2009.

"While In Her Wake reads like a psychological suspense novel, I hope that it ultimately conveys the tragedy of suicide and the process of healing for those left behind," said Dr. Rappaport. "It has been so gratifying to hear from people around the country that reading my memoir has made them feel less alone and given them the courage to move forward."

The Boston Authors Club, founded in 1900 by Julia Ward Howe and friends, is the country's oldest continuously meeting writers' club. Authors whose books are eligible for the awards must live or have lived within 100 miles of Boston. Awards are given for the previous year, and more than 200 books published in 2009 were considered.