When most people who know and don’t know Lou Alpert read her memoir, Surrender: A Love Letter to My Daughter, they want to hug her. The new book, published by Hybrid Global, captures the compelling journey of opioid addiction through the lens of a mother. In December 2017, CNN broke the story of Crystal Champ, a homeless heroin at the time, who surrendered her baby to a police officer.
“I had not shared this story with really anyone,” the mother of eight told So Booking Cool. “A few of my close friends knew parts, but no one knew everything, and when the story broke on CNN, I had been managing a very isolated, sort of functional life, but when it hit the news and went all over the place it became public information. And I found myself in a very vulnerable situation.” This was why it was important that Champ selected a publisher in which she felt she could trust; in fact she collaborated with a colleague from her publishing days.
Alpert is in fact a former children’s book publisher as well as children’s books author. She also worked with a co-operative women’s art gallery, worked as a real estate broker, and founded the Lakewood Service League, a Dallas-based volunteer organization that aims to provide economic, educational, cultural and civic benefits in the area. But the title that means the most to her is that of mother. She is also an advocate for children.
“I have always worked with children,” the Texan native said. “And I gave birth to six, and I have a stepdaughter, and I have Crystal, and I had two other kids that lived with me for three years before they went back to their families. I think children are the most precious thing we have…I worry about children, I worry about the mother that holds her baby and is looking at her cell phone and not into her child’s eyes…if I’ve learned nothing else through all of this, we need to listen with attention to our children.”
Listen to the interview to learn more about Surrender, her thoughts on how addiction found Crystal, where she and Crystal stand now in their relationship, her advice for loved ones of addicts, how she would feel about her story hitting the screens, and more! For more information, visit Alpert’s official website.