A memoir

Sometimes Shells Make Sand

Julie Doyle Cullen

A story of love, loss, ALS and the ways we are remade with humor, honesty and the kind of grace that comes from holding it together while it is slowly but surely coming apart.

Read an excerpt

"The shore doesn't mourn what the tide takes. It simply becomes something new — smoother, quieter, more itself."

— From the book

The author

Julie Doyle Cullen

Sometimes Shells Make Sand follows three generations of women as they struggle to navigate the physical, mental, and emotional toll the disease of ALS takes on their lives.

The three women — exactly twenty-five years apart in age (25, 50, 75) — take the reader through their adventures together: miscalculated edibles, relationship wrangling, and random conversations and awkward situations, all while dodging the devastation of ALS.

Learning to love the life you have

Sometimes Shells Make Sand is about learning to love the dysfunctional family you have and honoring the ones you have lost. But most of all, it is about remembering that life is ever-changing and beautiful — just like the hard shells that fade into soft, powdery sand.

Reach Julie directly at [email protected]