Splitting the Difference

"No other book entangles romance and grief in such an urgent and beautiful way. Tré Miller Rodríguez writes as she lives: with breathless poise, unmatched style, and fierce bravery." (Claire Bidwell Smith, author of The Rules of Inheritance) "Splitting the Difference is a story of love and loss told with flair, ballsy bravado and unflinching honesty." - Susan Shapiro, author of "5 Men Who Broke My Heart" At 18, Tré gave her newborn daughter up for adoption. At 19, her only sibling was killed in a car crash. At 34, her husband died of a sudden heart attack. But at 36, her teenage daughter found her on Facebook and began to reshape the course of Tré's life. The sum of these milestones is Splitting the Difference: A Heart-Shaped Memoir, the nonfiction book that is equal parts inspiring, irreverent, and heart-rending. Through sharply immediate prose, Tré unpacks her experience as a young widow in New York City: the "dumb sh*% people say"; the "brave face" she wears to work and social events; and the lack of solace in one-night stands. Her perspective only begins shifting when she spontaneously brings Alberto's ashes on a trip, which sets into motion her ritual of spreading him in bodies of water. By traveling to Bucket List destinations like Brazil and Cuba, Tré discovers a grief strategy for facing her roughest days. Alberto's death ultimately becomes a portal through which Tré views her past and embraces her future: she quits her corporate job, explores Alberto's homeland of Cuba, and joyfully reunites with her biological daughter in North Carolina. A deeply moving narrative, Splitting the Difference is written with the "raw-thenticity" of a woman transformed by heartbreak and inspired by love's legacy.