The Size of Everything: a memoir

"A beautifully written story of triumph, wit, and sheer determination to survive."
-W. Bruce Cameron, New York Times Bestselling Author

As the face of her eponymous couture bridal business, Erin Cole radiates refined elegance. But the designer’s glamorous lifestyle and sweeping success belie a childhood marked by profound dysfunction.

Raised on a steady diet of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and death, no one would have expected Cole to go on to become a force in the fashion world. As a child, she often had no access to food; other times she was force-fed until she vomited. At home and at school, she was beaten, bullied and belittled. Her alcoholic parents alternately abused and ignored her. By the age of sixteen, she was living on her own.

"Remarkable and inspiring."
-Jane Heller, bestselling author

The Size of Everything is Cole’s moving story and so much more. Equal parts heartbreaking and hilarious, it’s a love letter to her surviving siblings, a how-not-to-parent manual, a testament to the power of positivity, and proof that where you come from doesn’t have to determine where you can go. Above all, The Size of Everything offers a powerful message of hope to anyone who believes that impossibly rocky beginnings can’t have a happy ending.

"A searing account of a broken, devastating childhood and the triumph that emerged in spite of--and because of--the wreckage. What a book!"
-Allison Winn Scotch, bestselling author

MORE PRAISE FOR THE SIZE OF EVERYTHING

“I’ll wager my mother that Erin Cole’s life is wilder and weirder than yours. That, in and of itself, doesn’t mean you ought to read this book. But the combination of grace, hope, and beauty with which she and Jenna McCarthy tell her story elevates it so far beyond the traditional memoir that they’ve practically invented a new genre. If the very best memoirs inevitably teach us something about ourselves, The Size of Everything could realistically be considered a graduate level class in you. At turns heartbreaking, sweet, and inspirational, this book reveals new pockets of reality while slowly and slyly making you fall in love with one of the toughest protagonists you’ll ever meet.”
~Travis Sentell, author of Fluid and In the Shadow of Freedom

“In The Size of Everything, Erin Cole’s life is stunningly documented by Jenna McCarthy in short but powerful chapters that describe the pain of an unimaginably brutal childhood that eventually becomes a life-changing message of hope. Cole’s amazing story is raw, honest, often heartbreaking, sometimes laugh-out-loud hilarious, and guaranteed to warm your heart.”
~Vikki Jensen Claflin, author of Who Left the Cork Out of My Lunch?

“The story of Erin Cole is told in eloquent slivers of time that will, at times, jar the reader from complacency. Reading about the atrocities that Erin endured is sometimes hard, yet the poetic way in which her tale unfolds makes it impossible to peel your eyes from the page. This is one you’ll read again and again.”
~Tamara Doris, author of Casey’s Quest

“I was captivated by The Size of Everything from the very first page. With a magical blend of moments funny, uplifting and unforgiving, Cole and McCarthy have managed to turn a gruesome past into poetry. Get ready to fall in love.