A House on Stilts: Mothering in the Age of Addiction

Written by Paula Becker

Narrated by Paula Becker

A House on Stilts tells the story of one woman’s struggle to reclaim wholeness while mothering a son addicted to opioids. Paula Becker’s son Hunter was raised in a safe, nurturing home by his writer/historian mom and his physician father. He was a bright, curious child. And yet, addiction found him.

“Really brilliant. I often feel that addiction lies right outside in this way. This is a remarkable book. And an utterly terrifying one.” – Andrew Solomon, author, Far from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity

More than 2.5 million Americans are addicted to opioids, some half-million of these to heroin. For many of them, their drug addiction leads to lives of demoralization, homelessness, and constant peril. For parents, a child’s addiction upends family life, catapulting them onto a path no longer prescribed by Dr. Spock, but by Dante’s Inferno. Within this ten-year crucible, Paula is transformed by an excruciating, inescapable truth: the difference between what she can do and what she cannot do.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Post Hypnotic Press
• Release date: Jun 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781772561869

Paula Becker

Paula Becker is a writer and historian living in Seattle, Washington. She is the author of the memoir A House on Stilts: Mothering in the Age of Opioid Addiction (University of Iowa Press), a finalist for the 2020 Washington State Book Award, and of the book Looking For Betty MacDonald: The Egg, The Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and I (University of Washington Press). Paula is also coauthor (with Alan J. Stein) of the books The Future Remembered: The 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and Its Legacy (Seattle Center Foundation) and Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition: Washington’s First World’s Fair (History Ink/HistoryLink in association with University of Washington Press). More than three hundred of Paula’s essays documenting all aspects of Washington’s history appear on HistoryLink.org, the online encyclopedia of Washington State history, where she is a historian.

Reviews for A House on Stilts

[Sarah · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Truly a wonderful book that I connected with on so many levels - my own past auctions, and my nephews current struggles with opioid recovery who lives with me - didn't want it to end, especially the way it did.

[RachelJalbert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A book that I am not ready to forget it will stay with fir a long time

[Beth Krause · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you enjoyed the book Beautiful Boy, you will love this one as well! Beautifully written. Great exploration of how addiction crosses all barriers and follows no rules. She truly honors the life of her son in its entirety through this work

[Nicki McMahon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a book written with so much love, Hunter was loved so fully . The book is raw and honest and beautifully written .