A Fractured Life

Abandoned by her parents as a three-year-old, and ultimately leaving her home country India for a new life in America as a young mother of a three-year-old son, this is not only an immigrant’s story, but a poignant and powerful memoir that is at first, one of sadness and continuing adversity, but ultimately one of strength, purpose, and the universal triumph of hope. It is a story of dislocation, disruption, and despair, and brings focus to the silencing of girlhood and womanhood and how with time, love, and support we can work our way out of that silence. Shabnam Samuel was twenty seven when she moved to the US, carrying with her a troubled marriage, an almost estranged husband, and a three-year-old son. Hoping to create a fresh start from everything that was holding her down, it took Shabnam twenty-five years of trials and tribulations to finally find her voice, her strength, and her place in this world.

Shabnam Samuel of Washington, DC

Shabnam Samuel is a writer, coach, social media trainer and the founder of the Panchgani Writers’ Retreat (www.panchganiwritersretreat.com) an international writing retreat based out of Panchgani, India. The retreat incorporates mindful living along with creativity and wellness following Ayurveda principles, with yoga, meditation, and writing workshops. 

As a writer, Shabnam has been writing ever since she can remember. Her essays have been published online in Brain, Child Magazine and Your Tango. Shabnam’s memoir, A Fractured Life, has a publication date of September 19, 2018, by Green Writers Press.

Shabnam also hosts a local TV show called Dew Drops and Words that broadcasts to 6.1 million viewers on the WJAL LATV network in the Washington, DC area. You can find her on YouTube under the name “Dew Drops and Words.”

Shabnam is a business coach and social media trainer. She mentors with Empowered Women International in Alexandria, Virginia, an organization that helps train low-income, immigrant, and refugee women how to be a successful entrepreneurs. Shabnam has called the suburbs of Washington, DC her home for the last 30 years.