Book description
“Life with no parole for fifty years. That’s what my paperwork reads. I saw it in print the day I arrived.” So begins Patty Prewitt’s epistolary memoir, describing the first eighteen years of her incarceration in various Missouri women’s prisons. Her letters tell the nightmarish story of incarceration while also…
- Coming soon!
- Coming soon!
Why read it?
1 author picked Trying to Catch Lightning in a Jar as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Patty Prewitt spent 38 years behind bars for a crime she did not commit before her sentence was commuted in May 2025. And yet, within those walls, she found ways to live bigger, love deeper, and shine brighter than many of us ever manage in freedom. Her letters are inspiring, humbling — and ultimately unforgettable. This book will break your heart then uplift and inspire you. The writing, like the author, is genuine and powerful. I will never forget Patty and her ability to make the best of horrific situations while helping others.
If you love Trying to Catch Lightning in a Jar...
The Rosewood Penny
2023 Queer Indie Award Nominee!
The dragons of Yuro have been hunted to extinction.
On a small, isolated island, in a reclusive forest, lives bandit leader Marani and her brother Jacks. With their outlaw band they rob from the rich to feed themselves, raiding carriages and dodging the occasional vindictive…
Want books like Trying to Catch Lightning in a Jar?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 2 books like Trying to Catch Lightning in a Jar.
📚 If you like Trying to Catch Lightning in a Jar, you might also like...
Portrait of an Artist as a Young Woman
Kate from Jules et Jim meets I Love Dick.
A young woman filmmaker’s journey of self-discovery, set against a backdrop of the sexual liberation movement of the 1970s and 1980s. In Portrait of an Artist as a Young Woman, we follow Ana Fried as she faces the ultimate…
Malcolm Before X
Malcolm Before X is about finding a way to continue moving forward after everything has been taken from you. While in prison, Malcolm Little discovered the power of reading and found a way to transform his character and become a better man. This half-biography focuses on that transformation, especially his…