One Day on the Gold Line: A Memoir in Essays was originally published by Black Rose July 2019. The memoir was reissued by Golden Foothills Press, December 2022.
“Writing against fantasies of ideal motherhood, Sameth’s book presents a brutally honest and much-needed account of family-building and parenting in the twenty-first century.”
—New Pages
Through meditations on race, culture, and family, One Day on the Gold Line tells the story of a queer Jewish single mother raising a Black son in Los Angeles. A memoir-in-essays, it examines life’s surprising changes that come through choice or circumstance, often seemingly out of nowhere, and sometimes darkly humorous—even as the situations are dire.
While escaping from a burning boat, Carla realizes that if she died, her one regret would be not having children. She overcomes miscarriages to finally give birth to a son. Motherhood’s usual struggles are then complicated by identity, community, and the challenges of creating a blended family. The overarching theme of these loosely woven reflective tales is the storyteller’s dream of the “perfect” family, the pursuit of which hurls her from one crisis to the next, ultimately meeting its greatest challenge in the form of her teenage son’s struggle with drug addiction.
One Day on the Gold Line: A Memoir in Essays by Carla Rachel Sameth was short-listed for the Memoir Magazine 2024 Memoir Prize and is a 2021 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite in the category of Memoir.
Check out the One Day on the Gold Line playlist on Spotify.
“There is so much to admire in these warm, funny, and deeply human tales of love, sex, motherhood, and other adventures. Carla Sameth never gives up on herself, and her readers will never give up on her.”
—Héctor Tobar, author of the New York Times bestseller: Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle That Set Them Free.
“Race, class, drugs, sexuality, otherness…21st Century American hot-button issues are on full display in this brave, gritty, unflinching memoir. As the single lesbian mother of a Jewish and African American son, Sameth navigates dangerous cultural trends tearing at the fabric of her non-traditional family. Sameth shows that a family is not an abstraction, but a tribe that overcomes threats only when those threats are faced head-on. This is a “feel-good” book not because it’s fuzzy and vague, but cause of its clear-eyed, truth-telling love.”
—Sue William Silverman, author of The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew and Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir
“The well-crafted essays of Carla Sameth’s memoir, One Day on the Gold Line, kept me riveted. Sameth tells deeply moving personal stories about overwhelming yearning and love that make you frighteningly vulnerable, finding the courage to face the worst, losing the person you were in your youth and discovering her again.This is a truly beautiful book.”
—Lillian Faderman, author of Naked in the Promised Land: A Memoir and Harvey Milk: His Lives and Death
“A beautifully written memoir-in-essays… notable for clarity and originality. A sharp wit and defiant humor run through this book, giving it an upbeat energy.”
—Kathryn Rhett, author of Immortal Village, Souvenir, and Survival Stories: Memoirs of Crisis
“Carla Sameth has seen it all—and she’s the perfect guide to show us the poetry she found. Like motherhood itself, One Day on the Gold Line will break your heart in all the right places and put it back together a little differently.”
—Ariel Gore, Author, Editor/Publisher of Hip Mama
“Set in California, in the context of Black Lives Matter, same sex marriage laws, and publication of The New Jim Crow, Sameth’s narrative is a riveting story of resilience–of what happens when what we hope for, and what we get, stand in stark, though sometimes beautiful, contrast.”
—Marcelle Soviero, Editor-in-Chief Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers.
“A stunning read. Sameth pulls no punches as she tracks the highs and lows of queer family-making. . . . I found myself right beside her as Sameth lent words and image to some of my darkest fears and desires—and the search for unconventional love that drives them. Sameth has found the courage to break the mold, and One Day on the Gold Line tells the story of how she did it—with grit and recovery, laughter and unflinching self-investigation. It’s a story of overcoming, of healing, of creating family otherwise.”
—Aimee Carrillo Rowe, author, Power Lines: On the Subject of Feminist
“A splendidly raw and witty memoir-in-essays . . . eloquently laced with dark humor. Carla Sameth exquisitely confesses the flinching sacrifices and immeasurable rewards of motherhood.”
—Melodie J. Rodgers, editor-in-chief, SOREN LIT
“Carla Sameth’s writing is poignant, powerful and needed.”
—Shonda Buchanan, Author, Black Indian
In her new memoir, One Day on the Gold Line, Pasadena author Carla Sameth’s aching desire to become a mother, followed by the life she experiences once that dream becomes a reality, will crack your heart open with pain and joy.
This collection of loosely woven essays meditates on desire, motherhood, race and culture. Sameth’s writing is honest, beautiful and hits a balanced note of revealing her often naïve younger self with a wiser, reflective and compassionate narrator self. This is a story about a woman who is Jewish and lesbian, who falls in love easily and wants nothing more than to be in a loving relationship and build the perfect family. While romantic bliss eludes her for a while, her dream to become a mother does eventually come true. By the time she gives birth to her son, an Afro-Jewish child, she is single. A dreamer, she carves her own way. All parents will be able to relate to the narrator’s universal parental concerns about our children’s well-being and development.
— LA Parent
Sameth was determined to have her baby by any means necessary and, as he grew, strove to create a nurturing family. The traumas inherent in her efforts, as well as her fierce maternal love, is the grist of One Day on the Gold Line.
— Brevity
“A book that drew me in from the beginning. . . . Sameth is honest in her story of challenge and loss as she tries to achieve a picture-perfect family. She moves the reader from one crisis to another with a steely spine. . . . One Day on the Gold Line is beautiful, raw, and poignant and a good reminder of how we can be both vulnerable and strong at the same time.”
—Literary Mama
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