Splitting the Difference: A Heart-Shaped Memoir

"No other book entangles romance and grief in such an urgent and beautiful way. Tré Miller Rodríguez writes as she lives: with breathless poise, unmatched style, and fierce bravery." -- Claire Bidwell Smith, author of The Rules of Inheritance"Splitting the Difference is a story of love and loss told with flair, ballsy bravado and unflinching honesty." -- Susan Shapiro, author of 5 Men Who Broke My HeartAt 18, Tré gave her newborn daughter up for adoption. At 19, her only sibling was killed in a car crash. At 34, her husband died of a sudden heart attack. But at 36, her teenage daughter found her on Facebook and began to reshape the course of Tré's life. The sum of these milestones is a nonfiction book that is equal parts inspiring, irreverent, and heart-rending. In sharply immediate prose, Tré unpacks her experience as a young widow in New York City: the "dumb sh*% people say"; the "brave face" she wears to work and social events; and the lack of solace in one-night stands. Her perspective only begins shifting when she spontaneously brings Alberto's ashes on a trip, which sets into motion a ritual of spreading him in bodies of water. By traveling to Bucket List destinations like Brazil and Cuba, Tré discovers a grief strategy for her roughest days. Alberto's death ultimately becomes a portal through which Tré views her past and embraces her future: she quits her corporate job, explores Alberto's homeland of Cuba, and joyfully reunites with her biological daughter in North Carolina. A deeply moving narrative, Splitting the Difference is written with the "raw-thenticity" of a woman transformed by heartbreak and inspired by love's legacy.