• “The complexities of a mother/daughter relationship are laid bare in this darkly funny, and utterly shattering memoir. Liz Scheier writes with shocking beauty and grace, never once turning her back on the truth. Never Simple is a brilliant, triumphant debut by a writer of significant literary talent.”

    —Augusten Burroughs, author of Running With Scissors and Toil & Trouble

  • "A riveting and poignant memoir of lies, compassion, and discovery. I couldn't put it down.”

    —Jenny Lawson, New York Times bestselling author of Broken, Furiously Happy, and Let's Pretend This Never Happened

  • “Liz Scheier’s beautiful book is a testament to the undeniable, indestructible love between a mother and a daughter. In telling her story she brings enormous sympathy to an exceedingly complicated relationship, and thus a clearer understanding for all of us with mothers. It’s a meditation on the subject of how much fear and dread can be tolerated by a loving heart. I adored it.”

    — Isaac Mizrahi, New York Times bestselling author

  • “Possibly the most brilliant, evocative, devastating memoir of what it is like to be the daughter of a mother with Borderline Personality Disorder, Liz Scheier’s story is also one of resilience and compassion. The questions it asks are ones that every surviving adult child of a profoundly mentally ill parent grapples with: how strong is the maternal thread that enables the survivor to care for an abusive mother even when they become a danger to their world and everyone in it? Is it possible for those left behind to ever heal? Staggering, at turns horrifying and life-giving, Never Simple left me gasping for breath.”

    —Elissa Altman, author of Motherland

  • "The book reads like a Nancy Drew mystery where everyone’s favorite amateur sleuth has done intense personal work and now possesses the courage and the self-awareness to turn her magnifying glass inward. "

    — The New York Times Book Review

  • "This powerful, conversational and — above all — honest memoir shakes hard truths out of the family tree."

    —New York Times Editor’s Choice 3/13/22

  • "A stunning and generous account of living with her mother’s mental illness… crisp and commanding prose. Strikingly, compassion trumps anger: 'I loved her smoky cackle and her jokes... her whole-body storytelling,' she writes. 'Now that I have my own children, I see how much of her best my mother did.' Readers will find it hard to part with this one. "

    — Publishers Weekly, starred review

  • “[Never Simple] recounts an improbably complicated life courtesy of an eccentric, mentally ill mother…[D]ark humor…abounds throughout the narrative…[D]rama on every page, punctuated by shrewd wit.”

    —Kirkus Reviews

  • "[A] tense and heart-rending story... Scheier is sometimes as sardonic as her mother, as well as funny and frequently clever. Never Simple writhes with the sorrow and guilt only a deep and complicated love can arouse."

    — Bookpage

  • "A brave exploration of a difficult but forever-connected mother-daughter relationship. Scheier’s memoir will appeal to many, thanks to its wit, unraveling mystery, and honesty."

    — Library Journal

  • "Scheier writes a compelling memoir that is hard to put down. Written in decisive prose, Scheier does not coddle herself or her mother. Neither does she vilify or glorify anyone. The many adults and family that came in and out of her life or the family she never met, are not pure good or pure evil but human and therefore, flawed... the reader is hooked."

    — USA Today

  • "Sometimes raw and other times wry, Scheier recounts the combinations of adventure and abuse, love and terror her mother, Judith, engendered. Scheier’s final pages are a moving confession of learning how to love her own children the “correct” amount without subjecting them to the damaging extremes of a mother’s love."

    —Booklist

  • "A horrific yet darkly funny memoir by the daughter of a charismatic woman with borderline personality disorder emphasizes the strength of family bonds."

    — Shelf Awareness

  • "Quite compelling and, on occasion, jaw-dropping."

    — Vulture

  • "Scheier’s debut is heartbreaking and compelling. The writing is insightful and candid, and the style is crisp and frank, threaded with both an aching sorrow and a droll perspective. The relationship between Scheier and her mother is complex and complicated, and Scheier doesn’t shy away from her frustrations or anger. What begins as an exploration of identity as she searches for the truth about her father ends up being a rumination on trauma and maternal love. The book’s subject matter is charted territory, but Scheier sets her own course here. NEVER SIMPLE is a worthwhile contribution to the library of stories about dysfunctional families, survival and compassion."

    — Book Reporter

  • "This is mother-daughter complexity at its most powerful."

    — #1 New York Times bestselling author Greer Hendricks