author
“Hosier delivers a memoir that is less about chasing an identity and more about having one cast upon her and coming to terms with it. A vividly rhythmic chronicle of reconciliation couched with a 1960s rock-‘n’-roll soundtrack.”
“[An] unsettling yet witty coming-of-age story…with chapter headings named after Beatles songs, this incisive memoir effectively transports readers to the ‘70s while exploring the weighty complexities of father-daughter love.”
“With a soundtrack provided by the Beatles, Hosier’s memoir considers her Ohio youth and New York City coming-of-age… Hosier writes most ecstatically about music and keeps readers turning pages with suspenseful foreshadowing and subtle cliff-hangers.”
“Erin Hosier’s remarkable coming-of-age story is tender, funny and resilient. Hosier doesn’t shy away from the complications and contradictions of love, sharing both the best and the worst of her volatile, vibrant father and detailing—in her singular and often hilarious voice the difficulty of leaving childhood, home, and the people who loved you first.”
— Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The Nest
“Clap your hands, rattle your jewelry, and twist and shout for Erin Hosier’s Don’t Let Me Down. If ‘true love shares a soundtrack,’ The Beatles gave an inspired daughter her only chance to connect with a complicated, troubled father. Hosier’s story is crammed with joy, heartbreak, transformation, and, at last, acceptance. Fierce, catchy, hilarious – like your favorite ?vinyl punk ’45 – this bird can sing. A glorious memoir.”
— Brando Skyhorse, author of Take This Man
“Don’t Let Me Down is a beautifully written, honest and often funny account of what it is to grow up as a woman. Erin Hosier not only nails the complicated father-daughter dynamic that inevitably cross-fades into gnarly relationships with men, but she does so artfully and with uncanny insight, delivering a stunningly tender tribute to the power of faith, love and, yes, the Beatles.”
— Nancy Balbirer, author of A Marriage in Dog Years
“In Erin Hosier’s Don’t Let Me Down, she shows us the slow and often imperceptible ways that a family becomes fractured, one secret at a time, until all is broken. Her memoir attempts to make that brokenness whole, an homage to her father, a testament to her brothers, to faith, and ultimately, to love. All of this is set within the structure of old Beatles tunes, one of the few shared pleasures that her family engaged in together. I read it in one sitting, the words playing like an LP in my brain.”
– Tanya Marquardt, author of Stray: Memoir of a Runaway
“Erin’s humorous, insightful memoir is wildly quotable. Like Ben Franklin quotable. You’ll be passing off her profound little bon-mots to your friends like you wrote them.”
– Mishna Wolff, author of I’m Down
co-author
HIT SO HARD, a memoir by Patty Schemel, 2017 (Hachette US) / 2024 (White Rabbit UK)
“Schemel is not only an apt explainer of drug culture, she’s also a gifted humorist in that fine tradition of blackness that can really only emerge from the depths of such despairing pursuit of death by overdose. Her description of the nature of the highs is much clearer than any of Lou Reed’s compositions…Her memoir is proof that through a committed combination of clarity and wit, even the most enabled and damaged rockstar might get a second chance at both love and music. Courtney Love should probably read it.”
“Reading about the myriad ways Hole drummer Patty Schemel–‘the best musician in that band’ as her pal Kurt Cobain put it–brutalized herself with addiction can feel like a kind of sadistic experience. And yet, Hit So Hard feels ultimately uplifting and hopeful, in part because its author so fully and completely appreciates what she’s survived in order to have written it. Hit So Hard is a harrowing but heartwarming read. Schemel’s made the years she got that others didn’t count. And it shows.”
―Lizzy Goodman, author of Meet Me in the Bathroom
“Patty Schemel’s drums have always been a wake-up call, the punctuation that makes serious the wild streams of punk consciousness her bands have expressed. This book is a wake-up call, too: a clearly considered, deeply honest look back at a rock scene that’s often been mourned but rarely truly understood. Schemel writes most honestly about herself: she spares nothing and no one as she traces the path of addiction as it intersects with the privileges and costs of young fame. A must-read about rock ‘n’ roll realities.”
―Ann Powers, NPR Music Critic and author of Good Booty
“Schemel describes her years with the band with the same unflinching honesty and eye for telling detail that she brings to all parts of her life.”
“[A] heartbreaking memoir…Schemel’s recounting is bluntly terrifying and provides invaluable insight into the ravages of addiction-and just as importantly, the possibility of recovery…A must-read for any grunge fan.”
“The ex-Hole drummer lifts the veil on the punk mythos with an unsparing memoir, in which she chronicles industry sexism, her teenage coming out, her struggle with addiction, and her years on the road with Kurt and Courtney.”
“A no-holds-barred look at her musical career and harrowing, decades-long path she took to achieve sobriety…A must read.”
“A smart, clear-eyed look back at the 1990s alt-rock scene…[Schemel] writes with humor and insight.”
