When COVID-19 hit, Shari Wallack knew it would take a toll on her mental health as her award-winning travel business came to a screeching halt. The pain of cancellations and clients demanding refunds, combined with having her adult children suddenly home from college, and a subsequent all-out panic attack resulted in an involuntary stint in a mental health facility. Once released, and not wanting to face the reality of her situation, she did what so many only dreamed about during the stress of 2020: She ran away from home.
In her hilariously raw and unflinchingly honest memoir, From Hell to Challah: Rising from Fragile to Fearless, One Grain at a Time (Radius Book Group, July 13, 2021, Hardcover / eBook)Shari takes us on her unusual voyage of self-discovery and healing. With her iPhone filled with personal and professional contacts and a carry-on bag packed with a weekend’s worth of clothes, she unexpectedly ends up on a three-month journey across the country couch surfing, baking challah bread, and cooking Jewish food creations with anyone who would let her. Along the way, Shari charms her way through the kitchens and taste buds of friends, family, and a zany cast of new-found characters while glamping, hot air ballooning, hiking, encountering wild animals, and witnessing the beauty of America.
Filled with photos and recipes, From Hell to Challah is a unique combination of food, travel and self-help memoir full of inspiration, passion, and courage.
In from hell to challah, Shari shares her inspiring, funny, and uplifting story through despair, survival, and mental emancipation during the chaos of 2020. Shari’s journey begins inside a mental hospital and continues on a trip to eighteen destinations throughout the United States during the Covid-19 pandemic. Shari details her innermost thoughts, hopes, and fears while illustrating how she went from crippling depression to joy over a three-month period.
Along with a multitude of colorful characters, Shari navigates an exciting and unusual voyage of self-discovery and healing. Among the useful lessons she learns along the way, she discovers that cooking and baking calm her. She provides the recipes that helped her through her struggles, with the hope that others will find the same much needed comfort. Shari’s heartwarming and humorous story from despair to joy shows that happiness and purpose can be found even in the most difficult of times.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Born in the Bronx and raised on Long Island, Shari Wallack started her professional career working for Club Med in New York City, and relocated to Fort Lauderdale, FL, in 1993 to work as an incentive sales executive for multiple cruise lines. The sale of Celebrity Cruise Line to Royal Caribbean International in 1997 led Shari to become an “accidental entrepreneur.” She later founded Buy the Sea, which has become the largest and most decorated cruise and all-inclusive brokerage company in the industry. Her extensive network in the United States enabled her to take the journey that led to this inspirational book. Shari challenges everyone to do the right thing, put people before profits, never take away anyone’s dignity, and find the humor in almost any situation.
Shari is most proud of her children Rachel and Jake. She shares her time between her home in Plantation, FL, her “retreat” in New York City, her tiny mobile home that resides in Salt Lake City, UT and any cruise ship anywhere in the world.
a memoir by shari wallack
Shari’s journey begins inside a mental hospital and continues on a trip to eighteen destinations throughout the United States during the Covid-19 pandemic. Shari details her innermost thoughts, hopes, and fears while illustrating how she went from crippling depression to joy over a three-month period.
Along with a multitude of colorful characters, Shari navigates an exciting and unusual voyage of self-discovery and healing. Among the useful lessons she learns along the way, she discovers that cooking and baking calm her. Shari provides the recipes that helped her through her struggles, with the hope that others will find the same much needed comfort. Shari’s heartwarming and humorous story from despair to joy shows that happiness and purpose can be found even in the most difficult of times.
From Hell to Challah: Rising from Fragile to Fearless, One Grain at a Time will be released in Hardcover and eBook on July 13, 2021 and is available now for pre-order at bookstores nationwide and online retailers such as
Amazonand
Barnes & Noble. 