Rurally Screwed

“A tale at once hilarious and touching.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch “A memoir of nitty-gritty adjustments, of the Herculean personal growth demanded with a committed partnership…A memoir with unexpected, unpretentious—and very funny—heft; the story of a young woman who drives herself so hard for a couple of decades that she neglects to notice who she is. Then, after an interlude spent raising chickens, canning, sewing her own clothes, attempting Bible study and overthinking almost everything about rural life, the young woman gets real.”—NPR.org “Rurally Screwed is really about trying to define ourselves, and how that experience can make us feel authentic and synthetic all at once. Knadler articulates her journey in a manner so self-deprecating and hilarious that it doesn't take long to realize she isn't ridiculing rural Virginia, she’s analyzing her own place in it...She is braver than most writers would be about exposing the vulnerable underbelly of her new marriage, and about how close she came to throwing in the clogs. The story is at times very raw, and embarrassingly personal in a way that will feel familiar to many readers. Knadler risks a lot, even the wrath of people she could still potentially meet in the aisles of the Lexington Walmart. Though she probably felt as if she was gambling it all with Rurally Screwed, the result is a story so genuine and touching that she won it all back—and then some.”—The Roanoke Times "Jessie Knadler's story about leaving the glossy office buildings and late nights of Manhattan to take a chance on love and create a new life in rural Lexington, Virginia, sounds like something out of a movie. But as Rurally Screwed shows, the most unexpected life events and happiest endings—not to mention the hottest cowboys—don't just appear on the silver screen. Jessie takes a lively, self-deprecating yet thoughtful approach to her particular fish-out-of-water tale. I laughed, winced and nodded my head in agreement more times than I can count. But most important, she shows that risks have their rewards, that it is possible to leave the worst of one's old life behind without abandoning the best of oneself."—Anna Holmes, founder of Jezebel “Jessie Knadler’s memoir, Rurally Screwed…is more than a fast-paced ride through the rodeo scene of relationships from Manhattan to Montana, but an examination of American life, the things we take for granted and the things we ought to cherish. Reading about Knadler’s search for inner peace helped this reader find some too.”—Siobhan Fallon, author of You Know When the Men Are Gone “Hilarious, romantic and real. Jessie Knadler’s writing made me feel every single emotion of her journey from the big city to the deep country—only I didn’t have to kill a single chicken or ride an actual horse. Although I may have fallen in love with her husband a little bit...”—Lara Naaman, writer/producer, Good Morning America “At once brutally honest and over-the-top hilarious, Rurally Screwed is the most engaging and relatable book about marriage I've ever read. And I've read most of them. Knadler takes readers on a journey from her stalled life as a New York City single girl to the wilds of Virginia, where she settles down with a cowboy, eighty-some chickens and a cellar stocked with moonshine. Along the way, she learns there's nothing romantic about chopping firewood and nothing easy about being married—but that after the sweat dries, the rewards of both are pretty awesome. Anyone who is married, has ever been married or is considering one day getting married has to read this book.”—Paula Szuchman, coauthor of It's Not You, It's the Dishes "This book is re