This Is Not My Life : A Memoir of Love, Prison, and Other Complications
Author(s): Diane Schoemperlen
“Never once in my life had I dreamed of being in bed with a convicted killer.”
For almost six turbulent years, award-winning writer Diane Schoemperlen was involved with a prison inmate serving a life sentence for second-degree murder. The relationship surprised no one more than her. How do you fall in love with a man with a violent past?
This Is Not My Life is the story of the romance between Diane and Shane—how they met and fell in love, how they navigated the obstacles of passes and visits and parole hearings and, eventually, how things fell apart, were reconciled and then fell apart for good.
In this candid, often wry, sometimes disturbing memoir, Schoemperlen takes us inside a complex and difficult relationship as she journeys through the prison system with Shane. Not only did this experience enlarge her capacity for both empathy and compassion, but it also forced her to more deeply examine herself.
Review(s):
With scalding candor, bravery, and a considerable amount of humor, Diane Schoemperlen has written a moving memoir about unexpected love. She reminds us what love is, and how even if it can’t always have a fairy-tale ending, it nonetheless offers redemption.
Fascinating, compelling and honest, Schoemperlen’s memoir lays out the often harrowing challenges in loving a convicted murderer who has been shaped by thirty years inside the prison system. I couldn’t put it down.
What a brave examination of the entrapment of the heart! Both confessional and confident, This Is Not My Life illuminates the hidden yet incessant desire, at all costs, for love.
“This Is Not My Life crackles with drama, irony, heartache and sheer authenticity.”
RBC Taylor Prize
ISBN: 9781443434218