Our July pick for The Morbidly Curious Book Club was "A Light in the Dark: Surviving More Than Ted Bundy" by Kathly Kleiner Rubin and Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi.

Join us if you're curious: themorbidlycuriousbookclub.com

About the book: "In January 1978, I slept in my bed at the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University as Ted Bundy stalked nearby. He grabbed an oak log from a stack of firewood, slipped through a back door with a broken padlock, and headed upstairs. He began twisting doorknobs. Room 9 was open, and he quietly and quickly killed one of my sleeping sorority sisters. Across the hall, he found another unlocked door and murdered again. Then, he turned the knob to my bedroom and found it was open. I remember the attack vividly. Bundy bashed me once in the head with the log and then attacked my roommate. He heard me moaning and came to finish me off. He never let his victims live. But he stopped suddenly when a bright light filled the room. He fled the sorority house and the light disappeared.

Bundy wasn't my first brush with death, and he wasn't my last. I've long been a survivor. I was born into a Cuban American family in 1957 in Florida. I had a happy childhood until I received my first death sentence at the age of thirteen. Physicians weren't sure why I was always so exhausted and running a low-grade fever. The prognosis was grim after my left kidney started to fail. Then, a physician from Cuba saved my life with a surprise diagnosis—lupus—and a treatment plan: chemotherapy. I endured chemotherapy again in my early thirties when I was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer.

This is my story of surviving three death sentences and finding love and happiness along the way. I was saved by a bright light, and I hope my story is one for people who are experiencing their own dark times. I am a victim, but I am also a survivor, and I want to speak up for all the women and girls whom Bundy murdered.

He has become a legend, and our voices have been muted or ignored. It's time we were heard."

Excitingly, we have chapters sprouting up around the world. Find them here: https://bookclubs.com/join-a-book-club/the-morbidly-curious-book-club -- if you don't see your city, send me an email!

themorbidlycuriousbookclub@gmail.com

The Sun article mentioned: https://www.the-sun.com/news/423345/grinning-ted-bundy-told-me-id-be-a-good-serial-killer-and-called-me-his-homeboy-i-even-organised-his-wedding/

Welcome to the Archives bonus episodes!

In 2024, I launched this podcast to delve deeper into our book club's nonfiction selections by engaging directly with the authors—the experts behind these compelling works. Over the years, our club has explored some exceptional books, and today, I am thrilled to spotlight one of our most acclaimed reads: The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis by Maria Smilios. This remarkable book has earned and incredible 9.4 out of 10 rating on our BookClubs website and remains unrivaled at the top of our charts. I’m very excited to chat with Maria today.

“It was a glorious moment, long-awaited and widely celebrated. Newspapers worldwide rang with banner headlines announcing the ‘wonder drug.’ Images from that day show the ‘incurables,’ the patients slotted to die, in the hallways laughing and dancing. Standing behind them are the Black nurses, their faces still, their eyes fixed and hesitant. They knew a more solemn story. Now only a small handful remain, including Virginia, who lives among the ruined buildings, keeping her promise to remember them, the Black nurses, the ones ‘time and people tried to erase,’ 'the women who ‘did their jobs,’ and who came to be known as the Black Angels.”

About the book:

“New York City, 1929. A sanatorium, a deadly disease, and a dire nurse shortage. So begins the remarkable true story of the Black nurses who helped cure one of the world’s deadliest plagues: tuberculosis. During those dark pre-antibiotic days, when tuberculosis killed 1 in 7 people, white nurses at Sea View, New York’s largest municipal hospital, began quitting. Desperate to avert a public health crisis, city officials summoned Black southern nurses, luring them with promises of good pay, a career, and an escape from the strictures of Jim Crow. But after arriving, they found themselves on an isolated hilltop in the remote borough of Staten Island, yet again confronting racism and consigned to a woefully understaffed facility, dubbed “the pest house” where “no one left alive.” Spanning the Great Depression and moving through World War II and beyond, this story follows the intrepid young women, the “Black Angels,” who, for twenty years, risked their lives working under dreadful conditions while caring for the city’s poorest—1,800 souls languishing in wards, waiting to die or become “guinea pigs” for experimental (often deadly) drugs. Yet despite their major role in desegregating the NYC hospital system—and regardless of their vital work in helping to find the cure for tuberculosis at Sea View—these nurses were completely erased from history. The Black Angels recovers the voices of these extraordinary women and puts them at the center of this riveting story celebrating their legacy and spirit of survival.”

themorbidlycuriousbookclub.com

Our June pick for The Morbidly Curious Book Club Was "The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America" by Anita Hannig.

"The Day I Die is a major work of nonfiction that tackles the one issue we'll all eventually come to face-our final days, hours, and minutes. With clarity and empathy, award-winning anthropologist Anita Hannig uncovers the stigma against the practice of assisted dying, untangles the legalities and logistics of pursuing an assisted death in America today, and profiles the dedicated advocates and medical personnel involved. In intimate, lyrical detail, Hannig explains why someone might choose an assisted death and how that decision impacts their loved ones. In a time when nearly 80 percent of Americans die in hospitals and nursing homes, medical assistance in dying could transform the way we die for the better, allowing more people to define the terms of their own death.”

Join us if you're curious: themorbidlycuriousbookclub.com

Excitingly, we have chapters sprouting up around the world. Find them here: https://bookclubs.com/join-a-book-club/the-morbidly-curious-book-club -- if you don't see your city, send me an email!

themorbidlycuriousbookclub@gmail.com

References and mentioned links:

• https://anitahannig.com/about-me/
• https://deathwithdignity.org/news/2024/03/annual-oregon-dwd-report-data/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9451602/
• https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/16/dutch-woman-euthanasia-approval-grounds-of-mental-suffering
• https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/16/europe-slowly-shifting-attitudes-towards-assisted-dying
• https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/16/dutch-woman-euthanasia-approval-grounds-of-mental-suffering
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_suicide_in_the_United_States#cite_note-6
• https://katu.com/news/politics/oregon-ends-residency-rule-for-medically-assisted-suicide
• https://news.gallup.com/poll/235145/americans-strong-support-euthanasia-persists.aspx
• https://www.patientsrightscouncil.org/site/assisted-suicide-state-laws/
• https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj.q271
• https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-services-benefits/medical-assistance-dying.html