Overview

""One life I've lived was liminal - I was not what I had been, but I had yet to become what I will be.""In her memoir Crowded Tables and Bonus Tracks, Ashley McLain moves from an adopted child in 1970s Dallas to a pioneering environmental consultant who cofounded and sold a thriving company. At fifty-three, she found the courage to search for her biological family, confronting questions of identity, belonging, and what it means to define ""enough."" Blending vivid storytelling with reflections on leadership, legacy, and cultural expectations, McLain celebrates the people who shaped her, the resilience forged through loss and reinvention, and the freedom in letting go. Crowded Tables and Bonus Tracks speaks to anyone ready to honor the past while daring to write the next chapter.

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9781945783562

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Reviews

""With the precision of an environmental scientist and the soul of a storyteller, Ashley McLain constructs a memoir that is as structurally sound as it is emotionally resonant. Crowded Tables and Bonus Tracks is a riveting study in the physics of family - proving that love, unlike matter, can be created without being destroyed. McLain moves effortlessly from the high-stakes world of corporate consulting to the tender, uncharted territories of adoption and reunion, delivering a masterclass in how to build a life that is both grounded and boundless."" - Mark Oldman, Award-Winning Author and Founder of Bevinars ""A beautiful memoir that speaks to women of all ages, Crowded Tables and Bonus Tracks unfolds with heartfelt reflection and hard-won lessons from a full, vibrant life. Told with disarming honesty and unapologetic vulnerability, this moving tome invites readers to see themselves through moments of triumph, growth, and grace."" - Michelle Cervantes, Director, Round Rock Public Library ""McLain's vivid descriptions of growing up will open floodgates of memories. Most of us will think of biological siblings and parents, our connections to them unspoken, even taken for granted. But McLain asks us to consider another possibility for how we connect and create community outside the bonds of biology. As an adoptee, McLain harnesses the unknowns about her origins, turning them into a kind of useful booster fuel. The revelation that the unknown can be a powerful motivator, not something to fear or deny, is McLain's triumph. It's a lens through which readers can find deeper meanings in their own lives and relationships, and come away knowing we can create our own fuel and use it to go where our hearts take us."" - Philip Maravilla, Former Senior Producer, PBS News Hour ""Ashley's story is a powerful reminder that family is something we create - and we all carry backstories. Seeking out one's birth parents does not diminish love for adoptive parents; it deepens understanding of self. Ashley's refreshing and brave honesty invites all of us to speak more openly about our origins and how we form family. When we do, shame has less room to live, and belonging becomes possible."" - Robin F. Schepper, author, Finding My Way, and adoptive mother ""From high kicking with her high school drill team to CEO of an environmental consulting firm, McLain's memoir offers a compelling exploration of nature, nurture, and the family connections that shaped her life and career. The bonus track for readers is the warmth and humor with which she shares her story."" - Patricia Flam, Clinical Psychologist ""Ashley McLain's memoir is a warm, clear-eyed tribute to a life fully lived - tracing from youth in 1970s America, when the world felt slower and bigger, to a thirty-year career into a founder and CEO. With humility and honesty, she reflects on formative moments: learning resilience from loss, shedding the need to be the ""perfect child,"" finding self-possession in high school, and discovering the power of community through teamwork. Her curiosity and courage opened doors she never hesitated to step through. This memoir is about growth, choice, family, and perspective: a reminder that ambition and heart can coexist, and that a meaningful life is shaped as much by reflection, family, and community as by professional achievement."" - Mona Sabet, Investor, Tech Executive, Author of Sail to Scale

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