Keokuk Author Lindsay Alice Leggett Brings New Memoir ‘Behind the Linz’ to Quincy Bookstore
The independently published memoir explores identity, motherhood, survival and the long process of rediscovering oneself, with copies soon expected at Enchanted Books in Quincy.
QUINCY, Ill. A new memoir from a Keokuk author is preparing to reach readers across the region, including bookstore shelves in Quincy.
Author Lindsay Alice Leggett is releasing Behind the Linz, a deeply personal memoir centered on identity, motherhood, survival, family, love, forgiveness and what she describes as the long journey back to oneself.
The book will soon be available locally at Enchanted Books in Quincy, along with several other independent retailers throughout the region and beyond.
For Leggett, the story begins with a life-changing experience that came early.
She became a mother at 17, an event that altered the direction of her life and eventually became part of a larger story about the identities people carry, the responsibilities they assume and the question of who remains underneath all of those roles.
Over the years, Leggett found herself occupying many of them. She was a daughter, a teenage mother, a peacemaker, a caretaker, a partner and the person expected to remain strong.
Writing Behind the Linz became a way of looking beneath those identities and confronting a much quieter question.
Who was she underneath all of it?
A Personal Story With a Broader Conversation
Leggett told Quincy Current that she does not approach her work with the intention of giving readers instructions about how they should process their own lives.
Instead, she hopes honesty about her own experiences creates room for others to recognize something within themselves.
“I don’t come into a room to tell people what their story means. I tell mine honestly enough that they may finally hear something in their own.”
That philosophy extends beyond the book itself.
Leggett is also bringing the conversations explored in Behind the Linz into author appearances, book clubs, interviews, speaking engagements, signings and other live events.
Rather than presenting herself as someone with answers for everyone else, she describes her role as telling her own story openly and allowing readers or audiences to determine what, if anything, it awakens in theirs.
Independently Written and Published
Behind the Linz is also an entirely independent publishing effort.
Leggett wrote and published the memoir through her own imprint, Sacred Roots Remembering, handling the project independently rather than releasing it through a traditional publishing house.
She told Quincy Current that direct pre-orders alone have already approached 300 copies, even before the book reaches a growing list of independent retailers.
The memoir is expected to be available at Enchanted Books in Quincy, Burlington By the Book in Burlington, Iowa, Dudley’s Bookshop in Bend, Oregon, and Oak Brook Studio in Keokuk.
Leggett said additional independent bookstores and shops are also being added.
The book is available online through Amazon and Barnes & Noble as well.
From Keokuk to a Wider Audience
For a book rooted in one woman’s personal experiences, Behind the Linz is beginning its life with a reach extending well beyond Keokuk.
Its themes are intensely personal, but they are also familiar to many people who have spent years defining themselves by what they do for others.
Mother.
Daughter.
Partner.
Caretaker.
Peacemaker.
The strong one.
Leggett’s memoir asks what happens when those roles are stripped away and a person is left to confront the identity beneath them.
Soon, Quincy-area readers will have an opportunity to explore that question for themselves when Behind the Linz arrives at Enchanted Books.
Leggett has also extended the reach of Behind the Linz into the Quincy community by donating several copies to Hope House. She said she has spoken with owner about her own story and the possibility of visiting Hope House the next time she is in the area, potentially bringing the conversations surrounding the book directly to those the organization serves.
