A Heart Returned - by Juliette Brisman (Hardcover)

About the Book

A love story, a tragedy... and a miraculous twist of fate

Book Synopsis

A love story, a tragedy... and a miraculous twist of fate

Juliette and Mark Brisman had a storybook romance and family life until one fateful day when the worst tragedy to occur on American soil struck: 9/11. Mark, who had arrived early at his office at Twin Towers 2 office in New York City on that Tuesday, became a victim of one of the worst terrorist attacks in American history, which claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people.

Juliette, who had to restart her life as a widow with her two young children, was unable to receive full closure with her late husband. Until...four years later, when a call from the NYPD changed everything.

Supplemented with a photographic insert, A Heart Returned is a powerful love story that transcends the boundaries between life and death and elucidates the resilience of the human heart.

Review Quotes

"Juliette Brisman has sought to reclaim the personal narrative of her experience as a 9/11 widow. She takes us with her on a journey of remembrance, recounting in vivid detail how she first met her husband Mark, fell in love with him, and began their lives together as a couple, as husband and wife, and as parents to two adorable children. The journey is not unfamiliar-dates at a mini-golf course, the sadness of a divorce in the family, a first apartment, the ambitious pursuit of professional opportunity, the fear of not being able to conceive and then the unbounded, anticipatory joy of expecting a first child. There is nothing particularly unique or exceptional in these moments, and perhaps that is the point. Juliette and Mark were living their lives; this was their story. Until it was not...With this poignant love story, Juliette Brisman has transformed the abstraction of mass death into something real and recognizable. She has, through her telling, saved a world of one."

-Alice M. Greenwald, President & CEO, 9/11 Memorial & Museum July 2022:

"A personal account of the impact of an unprecedented American tragedy. All of America and the world remember the horror of the 9/11 terrorist attacks; but Juliette Brisman brings the critical perspective of a family ripped apart, with lasting consequences. Her courage and determination in writing A Heart Returned will never provide personal closure, but will offer strength and support for 9/11 victims, their families, and the American people. Required reading."

-Kenneth R. Feinberg, Administrator of the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund of 2001