Out With It: How Stuttering Helped Me Find My Voice - Hardcover

"An interesting journey, both across country and in life." * New York Daily News * "A refreshingly honest memoir.... Out With It is a unique book, and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who stammers, knows someone who stammers, or simply wants to know more about this often misunderstood condition. It made me laugh out loud, gave me deep, positive revelations about the stammering experience, and simply made me appreciate the journey a little bit more." * Speaking Out, quarterly publication of the British Stammering Association * "A compelling bird's eye view of a condition few people are exposed to-and even fewer have patience for. Out With It is an inspiring, emotional story about one woman's struggle to be heard-with an intelligent and unique love story as an added delight." -- Liz Tuccillo, co-author of He's Just Not That Into You, author of How to Be Single, and member of the board of directors of Our Time, a theater company for kids who stutter "I've spent decades helping others reach their peak level of physical fitness and realize that the strength within creates the picture of health on the outside. Though I may look like a tough guy, I've fought my own inner battle with stuttering for most of my life. In Out With It, Katherine Preston describes, in such great detail, what it's like to not be able to express yourself clearly and without ridicule. With her memoir, she's become a voice for anyone with speech issues. My only complaint is that she didn't write it sooner." -- Jake Steinfeld, Chairman & CEO, Body by Jake; Founder, Major League Lacrosse; Chairman of the National Foundation for Governors' Fitness Councils "Katherine Preston is an extraordinary new literary voice and a triumphant storyteller of her generation. How she got there is a captivating tale and we are all the richer for her experience and her arrival." -- Carl Bernstein, author of A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton "Out With It is a highly personal, vivid, and affecting account of one woman's journey from disability to wholeness through self-acceptance. It is sure to engage anyone who has traveled down a kindred path." -- Benson Bobrick, author of The Caliph's Splendor and Knotted Tongues: Stuttering in History and the Quest for a Cure "A frank, encouraging, and fresh exploration of a problem that's more widespread than we think. Out With It is a welcome addition to the small body of literature on this fascinating and mysterious subject." -- Margaret Drabble, author of The Peppered Moth and A Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws "Katherine Preston's memoir is an astute and personal exploration on the human experience.... A must-read." -- Emily Blunt, actress "Katherine Preston is an upbeat and inspiring example of how to deal with a problem that concerns so many and yet is acknowledged by so few. Out With It deserves the widest possible audience." -- Michael Palin, actor, author, and founder of the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children "Out With It is both a compassionate, unflinching memoir and an anatomy of life with a stammer. Katherine Preston offers affirmation for the millions of us who live with a speech disfluency and practical insight for those who don't. I highly recommend this astute and engaging book." -- David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas "An inspiring memoir.... Readers expecting a fairy-tale ending when they finish the book can't have been reading very closely, but Preston comes to a truce with stuttering, and her battles with it make for engaging reading." * Kirkus Reviews * "Preston's book pulses with wit and energy, and the realities of how difficult living with [stuttering] is painted vividly.... Preston is unflinching and funny; she manages to find a happy balance of education, memoir, and feel-good-factor that few books actually achieve, concluding that it is our 'imperfections that ultimately make us beautiful.' Never saccharine or pandering, Preston's book is a triumph of telling your story without fear or glossing over the harder to look at details." * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *

At the age of seven, Katherine Preston learned that she was a stutterer. From that point on she battled the fear of communicating with the world by denying that her speech was an issue. Finally, a humiliating experience inspired her to take an unusual action. What begins as a search for a cure becomes a journey that debunks the misconceptions that shroud the condition and a love story that changes her perspective on normality. Out With Itoffers a fresh perspective on our obsession with physical perfection and an exploration of what our voice, and our vulnerabilities, means to each of us. It sheds light on an ancient condition that afflicts approximately 4 million in the U.S. and 60 million people worldwide. In addition to experts, Katherine interviewed writers, actresses, musicians, social workers, psychologists, farmers, and financiers-men and women of all walks of life who were working to overcome their speech problems. Combining memoir and investigative journalism,Out With Itis an incredibly compelling, informative and heartwarming memoir about understanding and embracing one's self and the voice within.