{"product_id":"beard-a-memoir-of-a-marriage-hardcover","title":"Beard: A Memoir of a Marriage - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eKelly Foster Lundquist\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"When I tell this story as a joke, I am its punchline. Leaning in close, I might start with this bit: The night before my first husband got outed to me, I was in Chicago's Boystown neighborhood dressed up as Liza Minnelli for Halloween.\"\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eKelly Foster Lundquist was nineteen when she met Devin at church camp in the late '90s. Immediately inseparable, the two bonded over bootleg Tori Amos recordings and a sense of disconnection from the spiritual fervor of their fellow camp counselors. Devin was classically handsome and Kelly on the plain side of pretty, but they matched. Their twinned search for God, acceptance, and love would profoundly shape the rest of their lives. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this striking debut memoir, Lundquist revisits her relationship with Devin twenty years after their divorce, as she investigates the \"beard\" trope in literature, culture, and her own romantic life. The straight woman who unwittingly marries a gay man is either a laughingstock or a fool--or both--in the popular imagination. And yet reality--much like desire--is more wild. Reality is midnight pad Thai, tenderness in Ralph Lauren sheets, ritual visits to Blockbuster, and beginning a PhD in queer theory while your husband secretly struggles to reconcile his double life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA tour de force of empathy and vivid prose, \u003ci\u003eBeard\u003c\/i\u003e reckons honestly with the harm done to both husband and wife by churches that required rigid performances of gender and sexuality. In contrast, Lundquist learns to let go of brittle certainties as she embraces what her first marriage taught her about risk and redemption.\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eLast Syllable \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eBook Award Nonfiction Finalist (2025)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eMemoir Magazine \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eMemoir Prize Honorable Mention (2025) \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eKelly Foster Lundquist \u003c\/b\u003eteaches writing at North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. A 2013 Milton postgraduate fellow at \u003ci\u003eImage Journal\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eKenyon Review\u003c\/i\u003e writers' alum, her work has appeared in \u003ci\u003eLast Syllable\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWhale Road Review\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Academy Stories \u003c\/i\u003eamong other places. She has an MFA in creative writing from Seattle Pacific University and an MA in English from Mississippi College, and remains a PhD dropout. Lundquist lives in a little red house by the Mississippi River with her spouse and daughter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 250\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.1 x 8.6 x 5.7 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 30, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44809837117542,"sku":"9780802884732","price":39.55,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0599\/7255\/0758\/files\/CBQI_yAPzE9780802884732.webp?v=1771602894","url":"https:\/\/infinitylightwa.com\/products\/beard-a-memoir-of-a-marriage-hardcover","provider":"Infinity Light","version":"1.0","type":"link"}