From the number one New York Times bestselling author comes another stunning memoir that is tender, touching...and just a little spooky.
"Here’s a partial list of things I don’t believe in: God. The Devil. Heaven. Hell. Bigfoot. Ancient Aliens. Past lives. Life after death. Vampires. Zombies. Reiki. Homeopathy. Rolfing. Reflexology. Note that 'witches' and 'witchcraft' are absent from this list. The thing is, I wouldn’t believe in them, and I would privately ridicule any idiot who did, except for one thing: I am a witch."
For as long as Augusten Burroughs could remember, he knew things he shouldn't have known. He manifested things that shouldn't have come to pass. And he told exactly no one about this, save one person: his mother. His mother reassured him that it was all perfectly normal, that he was descended from a long line of witches, going back to the days of the early American colonies. And that this family tree was filled with witches. It was a bond that he and his mother shared--until the day she left him in the care of her psychiatrist to be raised in his family (but that's a whole other story). After that, Augusten was on his own. On his own to navigate the world of this tricky power; on his own to either use or misuse this gift.
From the hilarious to the terrifying, Toil & Trouble is a chronicle of one man's journey to understand himself, to reconcile the powers he can wield with things with which he is helpless. There are very few things that are coincidences, as you will learn in Toil & Trouble. Ghosts are real, trees can want to kill you, beavers are the spawn of Satan, houses are alive, and in the end, love is the most powerful magic of all.
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Contemporary memoir was reshaped by candid, tragi-comic chronicles of unusual childhoods and personal struggles, most notably through the publishing phenomenon Running With Scissors. The author, Augusten Xon Burroughs, became widely known following the release of this 2002 New York Times bestselling memoir, which documented his unconventional upbringing after being placed in the care of his mother's psychiatrist.
Born Christopher Richter Robison on October 23, 1965, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was raised in Western Massachusetts. His father chaired the philosophy department at the University of Massachusetts, and his mother was a writer. Following his parents' separation when he was twelve, he stopped attending traditional school, and his mother's psychiatrist became his legal guardian. At seventeen, he relocated to the Boston area and earned a diploma in computer programming and systems analysis from the Control Data Institute, later establishing a career in advertising before transitioning to full-time authoring.
He published his debut novel, Sellevision, prior to his breakout success with non-fiction. His subsequent memoirs and essay collections expanded his profile as one of the best-selling LGBTQ+ writers, with his books translated in over thirty countries and selling millions of copies worldwide. Beyond writing, his life story reached screen audiences when Running With Scissors was adapted into a 2006 feature film directed by Ryan Murphy, featuring Annette Bening, Brian Cox, Alec Baldwin, and Joseph Cross.
His non-fiction is characterized by frank humor, sharp observation, and unsparing vulnerability when examining trauma, addiction, and family dysfunction. Readers and critics frequently note his ability to uncover dark absurdity within painful personal history, particularly in his accounts of childhood neglect and adult substance abuse recovery. His prose balances conversational narrative pacing with precise emotional detail, offering an intimate perspective on personal recovery and identity.
