Always There, Always Gone

A Daughter's Search for Truth

By: Marty Ross-Dolen

Narrated by: Marty Ross-Dolen

In 1960, six years before Marty Ross-Dolen was born, her maternal grandparents were killed in an airline disaster involving the collision of two commercial jets over New York City. They were traveling from Columbus, Ohio, to seek placement for their family’s iconic magazine, Highlights for Children, on the newsstands. Their daughter—Marty’s mother—was fourteen years old at the time. This genre-bending memoir tells Marty’s story of being raised by a mother in protracted mourning.

The fragmented narrative explores Marty’s journey, from personal ways of coping as a child to the evolution of a mother-daughter relationship that matured over time. It is also about her longing to know her maternal grandmother, and through saved letters and photographs from her grandmother’s life, she enters a fantastical relationship that serves to replace one that otherwise could never exist. Ultimately, it is about the discovery of truth in unearthing the story of her grandparents’ deaths and her mother’s acute loss, in freeing her grandmother’s image from the weight of a tragic death, and in Marty’s own delivery from darkness. Beyond that, it is about universal life choices, the ways human beings unknowingly determine their destinies, and the healing powers of truth and love.

A PDF accompanies the audiobook that includes the visual elements from the print version.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2025 She Writes Press (P)2025 Marty Ross-Dolen

Inspired and creatively presented

Beautiful language, excellent storytelling, riveting. I listened to the entire book in one day. It was an honor to learn about the author's experience as she felt and navigated the absence/presence of her grandparents (in her life and in her mother's life) and researched her grandmother's life to get to know her. The emotional and the factual are presented creatively and thoughtfully. I'll say it again: beautiful language. Don't forget to look at the PDF to see the erasure poems visually. I highly recommend this book!