Pub date: March 2, 2027
Womanhood isn’t a condition.
Midlife is universal.
At thirty-seven, therapist Anna Sullivan found herself in a body—and a life—she no longer recognized.
Anna's story begins with a breast cancer diagnosis and an estrogen-suppressing treatment that throws her into menopause practically overnight. Overwhelmed by brain fog, sleepless nights, hot flashes, and sexual dysfunction caused by Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause (GSM), Anna tries to ignore her symptoms, convinced they will eventually pass.
Instead, she finds herself slipping away, disconnected and uncertain of who she is becoming. What unfolds in her memoir, THESE BONES ARE REAL, is a deeply personal examination of midlife, sexuality, illness, and inherited trauma.
Caught between the potential risks of menopausal hormone therapy—given her history of breast cancer—and the cost of going without it, Anna investigates the silence surrounding women’s health and is forced to confront painful truths within her own family history, including a traumatic experience from adolescence that continues to shape her understanding of intimacy, shame, and survival. In the end, she arrives at a hard-won understanding: the body is both fragile and resilient, capable of carrying grief and desire at once.
Moving between the physical realities of menopause and the emotional terrain of memory, These Bones Are Real becomes not just a story about trying to “fix” a body, but learning to live inside one.
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