And You Will
Call It Fate
About the book
156 pages
Paperback
March 2026
978-1-4962-4623-3
Praise
“A stunningly clear-eyed exploration of masculinity via Timothy Hillegonds’s long relationship with Sean Dempsey, a man capable of startling generosity as well as unchecked rage… . In an era where cultural conversations about masculinity can be dismayingly binary, And You Will Call It Fate is exactly the book the world needs.”
—KRISTI COULTER
Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career
“Haunting, disturbing, and uplifting, And You Will Call It Fate tells the complex tale of a friendship that saved the author from addiction—a friendship as exhilarating and ensnaring as a line of cocaine, full of false promises and flashes of rapture and insight. The character of Sean Dempsey is Hillegonds’s Gatsby—enigmatic, lavish in lifestyle, and dangerous to be around. But, like the author of this brave and beautiful book, you’ll be glad you came into his orbit.”
—MILES HARVEY
author of The Island of Lost Maps and The King of Confidence
“Timothy J. Hillegonds has crafted a courageous and unflinching exploration of masculinity, rage, addiction, and redemption. At its core—and perhaps even to the author’s own surprise—it’s a moving testament to our capacity for transformation and the unstoppable momentum of personal evolution once the will is awakened.”
— KATHERINE ROWLAND
author of The Pleasure Gap: American Women and the Unfinished Sexual Revolution
“This is a beautiful thing. A book that tackles the stuff that matters and paints a portrait of life in all of its complexities. The twists of fate. The roads taken and left behind. But mostly choices. The choices we make and the choices we choose not to. It is, in a way, the fundamental question a person must face: taking stock of who we have been and, ultimately, who we choose to be.”
— JARED YATES SEXTON
author of The Man They Wanted Me to Be: Toxic Masculinity and a Crisis of Our Own Making
“And You Will Call It Fate is more than a recovery memoir. It’s a story about the grace necessary to see good in people even when they’re at their worst, but it’s also a story about giving ourselves enough grace to let go of people who stand in the way of true healing. And in the end, it’s a story about the humility and courage it takes to stand on your own two feet.”
— JOEY FRANKLIN
author of Delusions of Grandeur: American Essays
About the book
156 pages
Paperback
March 2026
978-1-4962-4623-3
Praise
“The title of this book—The Distance Between—captures, not only the miles travelled, and the motion created in the story it tells, but as the ending of the book asks us to look forward, the title also conveys something about that space between who we used to be and the people we can become.”
—BREVITY
Penny Guisinger
“Earnest, well-written, and compelling.”
—NEWCITY
Timothy Parfitt
“If more men were capable of this kind of humility and vulnerability, who knows what changes we might see in our definitions of masculinity?”
—LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS
Ryan Smernoff
“What a gorgeous book. Hillegonds’s candor and insight are a marvel, his storytelling gripping, harrowing, and beautiful.”
—MICHELE MORANO
author of Grammar Lessons: Translating a Life in Spain
“With earnest, unflinching prose and piercing detail, Hillegonds chronicles a turbulent past defined by a toxic mixture of rage, recklessness, and addiction. His willingness to peel back the layers of vulnerability and shame to reveal the man he once was, is a stirring testament to the man he is now.”
— MELANIE BROOKS
author of Writing Hard Stories: Celebrated Memoirists Who Shaped Art from Trauma
“The Distance Between is a bracingly honest account of a boy’s search for manhood through the wilds of addiction, violence, and early fatherhood. This story gutted me. Hillegonds’s debut announces that he’s a writer to watch.”
—HOPE EDELMAN
author of Motherless Daughters: The Legacy of Loss
“If I could level any criticism against Hillegonds’s tour de force memoir, it is that I wish it had gone on for a few more chapters so that we could learn more about his recovery process. Then again, that’s not a flaw in the book but a testament to the captivating story it tells.”
—THE WV INDEPENDENT OBSERVER (Shepherdstown, WV)
Gonzalo Baeza