# Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive - Hardcover

by **Stephanie Land** (Author), **Barbara Ehrenreich** (Foreword by)

**_NEW YORK TIMES_ BESTSELLER  
****_Evicted_ meets _Nickel and Dimed_ in Stephanie Land's memoir about working as a maid, a beautiful and gritty exploration of poverty in America. Includes a foreword by Barbara Ehrenreich.  
**At 28, Stephanie Land's plans of breaking free from the roots of her hometown in the Pacific Northwest to chase her dreams of attending a university and becoming a writer, were cut short when a summer fling turned into an unexpected pregnancy. She turned to housekeeping to make ends meet, and with a tenacious grip on her dream to provide her daughter the very best life possible, Stephanie worked days and took classes online to earn a college degree, and began to write relentlessly.

She wrote the true stories that weren't being told: the stories of overworked and underpaid Americans. Of living on food stamps and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) coupons to eat. Of the government programs that provided her housing, but that doubled as halfway houses. The aloof government employees who called her lucky for receiving assistance while she didn't feel lucky at all. She wrote to remember the fight, to eventually cut through the deep-rooted stigmas of the working poor.

_Maid_ explores the underbelly of upper-middle class America and the reality of what it's like to be in service to them. "I'd become a nameless ghost," Stephanie writes about her relationship with her clients, many of whom do not know her from any other cleaner, but who she learns plenty about. As she begins to discover more about her clients' lives-their sadness and love, too-she begins to find hope in her own path.

Her compassionate, unflinching writing as a journalist gives voice to the "servant" worker, and those pursuing the American Dream from below the poverty line. _Maid_ is Stephanie's story, but it's not her alone. It is an inspiring testament to the strength, determination, and ultimate triumph of the human spirit.

### Author Biography

Stephanie Land is the instant _New York Times_ bestselling author of "MAID: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive," the inspiration for the Netflix Limited series, hailed by _Rolling_ Stone as "a great one."  
**"A single mother's personal, unflinching look at America's class divide, a description of the tightrope many families walk just to get by, and a reminder of the dignity of all work."  
\-PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, Obama's Summer Reading List  
**Stephanie's work has been featured in the _New York Times_, the _Washington Post_, _The Guardian_, _The Atlantic_, and many other outlets. Her writing focuses on social and economic justice. Follow her everywhere @stepville and visit stepville.com.

  
BARBARA EHRENREICH is the author of fourteen books, including the bestselling _Nickel and Dimed_ and _Bait and Switch_. She lives in Virginia.

**Number of Pages:** 288

**Dimensions:** 1.3 x 9.1 x 6.1 IN

**Publication Date:** January 22, 2019

## Details

- **Price:** 36.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 36.00 USD | In stock |

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- Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive - Hardcover

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