Not So Fast

Growing up in a rural farming town can be lonely and unglamorous. In Not So Fast, Sarah McMahon positions rural America warmly, sharply contrasting its beauty with the economic insecurity that lies at its core. After a childhood spent running around cornfields, she earned a scholarship to run cross country and track at Bradley University, a small, private Division 1 school in central Illinois. Any notion of security was abandoned when her mother fell ill and Sarah found herself in the clutches of an eating disorder that only deepened and darkened in the arena of collegiate athletics. She graduated with two degrees, an injured hip, and an abusive boyfriend. After moving to California, she not only broke free of his abuse, but found stable treatment and learned the definition of true, unconditional love. By turns humorous, dark, and deeply vulnerable, Not So Fast is an honest accounting of universal struggles; economic insecurity, family illness, mental health, and dysfunctional relationships. McMahon’s voice is simultaneously frank and poetic, imbuing snippets of hope that feel just as universal as any of her struggles. Not So Fast invites readers to witness a reclamation of power, love, and belonging in a world that often asks women to forget who they are. Hers is a story about what it means to lose everything you thought defined you, and find yourself instead.