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Chancers
- Addiction, Prison, Recovery, Love: One Couple's Memoir
- Narrated by: Susan Stellin, Graham MacIndoe
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
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Chancers
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Summary
In this powerful memoir of addiction, prison, and recovery, a reporter and a photographer tell their gripping story of falling in love, the heroin habit that drove them apart, and the unlikely way a criminal conviction brought them back together.
Books for a Better Life Award Finalist
LitHub Best Book of the Month
When Susan Stellin asked Graham MacIndoe to shoot her author photo for an upcoming travel book, she barely knew him except for a few weekends with mutual friends at a summer house in Montauk. He was a gregarious, divorced Scotsman who had recently gotten sober; she was an independent New Yorker who decided to take a chance on a rough-around-the-edges guy. But their relationship was soon tested when Susan discovered that Graham still had a drug habit he was hiding.
From their harrowing portrayal of the ravages of addiction to the stunning chain of events that led to Graham's arrest and imprisonment at Rikers Island, Chancers unfolds in alternating chapters that offer two perspectives on a relationship that ultimately endures against long odds. Susan follows Graham down the rabbit hole of the American criminal justice system, determined to keep him from becoming another casualty of the war on drugs. Graham gives a stark, riveting description of his slide from brownstone Brooklyn to a prison cell, his gut-wrenching efforts to get clean, and his fight to avoid getting exiled far away from his son and the life he built over 20 years.
Beautifully written, brutally honest, yet filled with suspense and hope, Chancers will resonate with anyone who has been touched by the heartache of addiction, the nightmare of incarceration, or the tough choice of leaving or staying with someone who is struggling on the road to recovery. By sharing their story, Susan and Graham show the value of talking about topics many of us are too scared to address.
Praise for Chancers
“Stellin and MacIndoe, in entries sometimes akin to fighters in the ring, tell the story of their lives as MacIndoe rides a roller-coaster life of drug addiction and prison.... [Chancers] grabs in a voyeuristic way and propels page-turning to find out what happens next in a saga no soap opera could create.” (The Buffalo News)
“Emotionally resonant and evenly structured, their tandem chronicle resists overly romanticizing their bittersweet interactions to focus on the dedication and devotion necessary to make their already-complicated relationship survive the fallout of critical hardships. An emotionally complex and intensely personal binary memoir of addiction and sustainable love.” (Kirkus Reviews)
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Critic reviews
"Emotionally resonant and evenly structured, their tandem chronicle resists overly romanticizing their bittersweet interactions to focus on the dedication and devotion necessary to make their already-complicated relationship survive the fallout of critical hardships. An emotionally complex and intensely personal binary memoir of addiction and sustainable love." (Kirkus Reviews)
What listeners say about Chancers
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- michael
- 11-07-16
Addiction again I couldn't put the book down!
What did you like most about Chancers?
A very gripping true story - I am so naive about drugs it has helped me understand what it must be like for addicts and their loved ones to encounter. Susan's strength and encouragement is remarkable and Graham I'm glad your back to the caring better person you were before all of this. Keep up the good work and continue the book letting us know about the good times.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- St
- 13-12-20
you wont be able to press stop. so well written
well worth a wee read. Evokes powerful emotions in the listener. Yet another example that addiction doesn't make you a lost cause
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 21-12-21
Review
I found this account of drug addiction and love wonderful. Just the right amount of the horrors of drugs and the right amount of positive affirmation, and no lectures about God. A brilliant audiobook well worth listening to. I wish Susan and Graham well for their love ❤.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mr. C. M. Smith
- 31-08-18
A story of courage, hope and recovery
I really enjoyed this well written book, narrated by both authors. I found myself lost in this gripping and brutally honest, real life struggle of an addict and an amazing human being who believed in him others had given up. It offers hope to recovering addicts.
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- Zebra Karma
- 17-12-16
Exceptional memoir
I read about this memoir in the British Journal of Photography. Addiction and recovery are not topics that I normally choose as reading material but I was intrigued by Graham MacIndoe's back story as a celebrity photographer who had made the leap from small town Scotland to the bright lights of Manhattan. I was also drawn to the dual-memoir structure told by MacIndoe and his partner, New York Times journalist Susan Stellin.
Towards the end of the book Stellin raises a crucial question. Do we as a society really believe in rehabilitation? I'd never before given the matter any thought. Having finished Chancers, I would have to admit no, I don't think we do. MacIndoe's account of his time in prison, most notably in immigration detention after serving time at Riley's for a drug possession misdemeanour, is an eye-opener. Those inmates lucky enough to be released are dumped at the bus station without money, phone or even a jacket and expected to get back on their feet.
At times, Stellin does emerge as a saintly figure but she's wise to that and up for the takedown with the wry humour that I strongly suspect to be the spark that keeps them together despite everything.
"It's easy to say I love you, it's showing it that's hard," writes Stellin. I think it's fair to say by the end of the book they have both passed that particular life lesson with flying colours.
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