What Comes Next

A chronic subdural hematoma cracks Ramona Kelly's head and long-hidden family history wide open in the page-turning memoir WHAT COMES NEXT. Seamlessly interlaced with the account of her life-threatening brain condition is the heart-piercing, inspiring tale of four generations of fatherless daughters - her grandmother, her mother, herself, and her own two daughters - who not only survive the tragic loss of their fathers but shine as a testament to the joy that survival can bring.

WHAT COMES NEXT traces the formative experiences that shaped the author's adult personality and ultimately gave her the strength to survive "the brain thing," as she calls her 2021 medical crisis. With sensitivity and insight, she explores the self-consciousness that came from growing up poor and fatherless in the outskirts of Shreveport, Louisiana; the determination to escape her circumstances and create a better life for herself; her oft-misguided quest for the love and attention that she never received from a father; and the frightening brain illness that not only tested her endurance but also gave her an opportunity to examine her life's choices, misdirection, achievements, and perhaps most important, her family history.

At the center of that history are four generations of women, all of whom lost their fathers through desertion, divorce, or untimely death. With acute psychological analysis, the author explores the implications of this shared family trauma and its legacy.

The structure of WHAT COMES NEXT is an essential part of what makes it eminently readable. The book unfolds almost like a mystery novel: what is this painful "brain thing" with which the story opens? The worsening medical condition is revealed only gradually. Interwoven with the author's account of her five hospital visits in thirty days, misdiagnoses, increasing pain, and life-saving neurosurgery are the memory chapters in which she reflects on her personal history and the people and events that brought her to this moment in her life. WHAT COMES NEXT is unflinching in its honesty and deeply moving with its stories of female resilience in the face of tragedy.

Having your head split open and finally seeing all the gore within is at once shocking, humiliating, and humbling. But if you can bear to face the carnage, it can set you free.