Nancy McCabe

Vaulting Through Time

Sixteen-year-old gymnast Elizabeth Arlington has developed fear issues when it comes to throwing herself over a vault table—but then she finds that she has much bigger problems when she discovers a mystery surrounding her birth. She catapults through time—through her family history and great moments in gymnastics history—in order to solve that … Read More about Vaulting Through Time

Can This Marriage Be Saved? A Memoir

  In this warm, deeply personal, and often humorous book, Nancy McCabe re-examines and gains new understanding of her early life and her ill-advised marriage. Borrowing from Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights and Kafka’s “Metamorphosis,” how-to essays and before-and-after weight loss ads, a curriculum guide, Bible study notes, an obsession with Tom Swiftie jokes, and women’s magazine columns and quizzes, McCabe examines the many influences that led to her youthful marriage—and out of it, into finally taking control of her life.   Exerpts from Can This Marriage Be Saved? Before and After Breathing On Your Own…

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— Lee Martin,
author of From our House

“Nancy McCabe’s memoir Can this Marriage be Saved? is luminous in its need to know even the hardest truths. This story of a young woman ascending is by turns heartbreaking and triumphant. This is a book for anyone who has traveled, or is traveling, the long road to self-acceptance. I’ve read and admired Nancy McCabe’s work for years, but she’s truly at the top of her game in this brave new memoir.”

— Beth Ann Fennelly,
author of Heating and Cooling

“Why should a reader care about some writer’s long-ago, short-lived marriage? Because when the writer is Nancy McCabe, the examination of that long ago marriage helps us understand our own struggles for love and independence…. An immensely lively performance from which we emerge not merely entertained but enlightened and grateful…. [E]ngaging, spirited, and thoughtful.”

— Dinty W. Moore,
author of Between Panic and Desire

“They say it is impossible to understand another person’s marriage, and perhaps equally impossible to comprehend your own, but Nancy McCabe’s Can This Marriage be Saved is a wise, funny, and inventive attempt to put those notions to rest. McCabe recounts her early years vividly, with delightful honesty and remarkable insight. Every page is a pleasant surprise.”

Meet Nancy

  Nancy McCabe is the author of nine books, most recently the young adult novel Vaulting through Time and the memoir Can This Marriage be Saved? Nancy's academic satire The Pamela Papers is due out in early 2024, and her middle-grade novel Fires Burning Underground is due out in 2025. In her nonfiction she has experimented with alternate forms and incorporated memoir, travel writing, research, and commentary on topics related to China adoption and children’s literature. Her fiction often incorporates supernatural or magical elements. Her work has won a Pushcart and nine times made notable lists in Best American anthologies. She was the … Read More about Meet Nancy