Dying in Dubai is a memoir of love, loss, reckoning, and renewal, set against the backdrop of the Middle East’s Rodeo Drive-on-Mars city.
This heartbreaking but redemptive memoir tells the story of the sudden death in Dubai of Roselee Blooston’s beloved husband Jerry, and how her fifteen day journey through a profoundly disorienting environment, and the inner journey through the equally foreign terrain of grief over the next thirteen months, force her to face wrenching questions about his behavior there. As she free-falls through the city’s frightening underbelly with its ubiquitous police stations, gender-segregated waiting rooms, arbitrary Sharia laws, and an opaque bureaucracy that prevents her from immediately bringing his body home, the Middle East becomes the mirror and catalyst for a life-altering reckoning with her partner, her marriage, and ultimately, with herself. Dying in Dubai shows the reader that no matter the uncertainties, it is possible to transcend devastating loss, and to move forward with serenity and joy.
Read the 1st Chapter
Book Groups - Reader's Guide
Press Kit
Bus Stop Wedding TV Coverage (Video)
Buzzworthy in Montclair Magazine (Fall 2016)
Bookshelf feature in The Montclair Times (9/30/16)
Interview - Good Grief Radio on Voice America (air date 10/5/16)
Interview - Author-ized!- BCCLS NJ Library Consortium November Author of the Month (YouTube 11/2/16)
Interview - The Kathryn Zox Show, VoiceAmerica Variety (11/16/16)
Interview- Deborah Kalb Books (12/3/16)
Interview - The Daily Voice (12/12/16)
Interview-david-ives-and-roselee-blooston-copy-mp2 WQUN AM1220 Quinnipiac University radio (10/25/17)
YouTube Video Talk-YAWP!-An Open Dialogue on Creativity & the Arts w. Roselee Blooston, Quinnipiac University (10/24/17)
Interview with WVIA, NPR affiliate, on Keystone Theater 3-book event (11/3/22)
ALMOST: MY LIFE IN THE THEATER, on ambition, failure, and the drive to create, a memoir
AVAILABLE NOW on AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, AND BOOKSHOP.ORG
READ MEET THE AUTHOR on ALMOST from Well Worn Books READ Q & A with Deborah Kalb on ALMOST LISTEN TO GOOD GRIEF INTERVIEW with Cheryl Jones on ALMOST PUBLICATION DATE: SEPTEMBER 29, 2022Award-winning author Roselee Blooston tells the story of her decades-long struggle to fulfill her early promise by becoming a professional actress, taking her to far-flung locales from Europe to Texas to New York City. Along the way, she encounters several Oscar winners and nominees––including Meryl Streep, Greer Garson, and Olympia Dukakis––who each had a profound effect on her self-image and trajectory, though no one had more influence than her mother, a visual artist, whose life served as both cautionary tale and beacon. Blooston can lay claim to trailblazer status as a solo performer, but she asks herself and the reader to deeply consider the true meaning of success and the value of a creative life. Her calling, commitment, and longing for recognition will resonate with anyone who has followed a passion, been thwarted in the attempt, and then successfully and happily reinvented themselves.
Available NOW through Amazon ,
Barnes & Noble, Apprentice House Press, or your independent bookstore.
2016 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year WINNER
& a 2017 Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist 
REVIEWS/ENDORSEMENTS
“A Must-Read..vivid, vital and deeply touching…hits you like a shot in the heart…an emotional powerhouse”
–Peter Travers, Rolling Stone (FB post)
“brilliant writing…riveting”
–Nina Shengold, Chronogram
“brutally honest..impactful, suspenseful…masterful…poignant”
–Ann Hutton, Almanac Weekly
“pulsing drama…a memoir, a love letter, and an honest account of how the death of a loved one can create a myriad of obstacles”
–Reneysh Vittal, The Rumpus
“[Blooston has] written a book that speeds readers through a …journey of horror and formidable fears, moving on beyond the immediacy of pain to achieve literal and metaphysical changes and an affirmation of ‘the new me'”
–Mark Porter, The Montclair Times
“Delicious, meaningful and important”
–Cheryl Jones, Good Grief Radio
“compelling, clear-eyed”
–Eric Levin, New Jersey Monthly Magazine
“a fascinating portrait of a man in full”
–Cindy Handler, Montclair Magazine
“An achingly touching story…This book, which traces Blooston’s path from all-encompassing grief to embracing a different happiness, could serve as a guide for others drowning in these miserable waters. And for the newly widowed, this could be a most valuable guide.”
–Jacqueline Cutler, The Star-Ledger
“Incredibly moving”
—Deborah Kalb,
Book Blogger
“An unusual story, it is also a remarkable testament to [Blooston’s] strength and courage.”
-Valerie Wieland, newpages.com
“An immediate, often raw look into the way the loss of a loved one can shake the foundations of one’s reality. It is a book about love and grief, the joys and challenges of family life, and about finding hidden reservoirs of strength, even in the face of circumstances that can seem unspeakably cruel…Through it all, one of the strongest elements of the narrative is Roselee’s voice.”
–Professor Kenneth Cormier, Director of Creative Writing, Quinnipiac University
“I was enthralled by the book–highly recommended–one of the top 10 books I’ve ever read.”
-David Ives, Executive Director, Albert Schweitzer Institute, Quinnipiac University
Curtains up on this entertaining, authentic, and riveting memoir. Fasten your seatbelt and take an engaging ride!”
––Bara Swain, award-winning playwright and Creative Consultant, Urban Stages
“Roselee Blooston tells how she lost her way as an actor and found herself as a writer in this honest, touching, beautifully written memoir of her life in the theater.”
––Lucile Lichtblau, nationally-produced playwright
“A joy to read, who knew a theater memoir could be a page-turner?”
––Suzanne Trauth, co-author of Sonia Moore and American Acting Training
Dying in Dubai is a memoir of love, loss, reckoning, and renewal, set against the backdrop of the Middle East’s Rodeo Drive-on-Mars city.
This heartbreaking but redemptive memoir tells the story of the sudden death in Dubai of Roselee Blooston’s beloved husband Jerry, and how her fifteen day journey through a profoundly disorienting environment, and the inner journey through the equally foreign terrain of grief over the next thirteen months, force her to face wrenching questions about his behavior there. As she free-falls through the city’s frightening underbelly with its ubiquitous police stations, gender-segregated waiting rooms, arbitrary Sharia laws, and an opaque bureaucracy that prevents her from immediately bringing his body home, the Middle East becomes the mirror and catalyst for a life-altering reckoning with her partner, her marriage, and ultimately, with herself. Dying in Dubai shows the reader that no matter the uncertainties, it is possible to transcend devastating loss, and to move forward with serenity and joy.
Book Groups – Reader’s Guide
Bus Stop Wedding TV Coverage (Video)
Buzzworthy in Montclair Magazine (Fall 2016)
Bookshelf feature in The Montclair Times (9/30/16)
Interview – Good Grief Radio on Voice America (air date 10/5/16)
Interview – Author-ized!– BCCLS NJ Library Consortium November Author of the Month (YouTube 11/2/16)
Interview – The Kathryn Zox Show, VoiceAmerica Variety (11/16/16)
Interview– Deborah Kalb Books (12/3/16)
Interview – The Daily Voice (12/12/16)
Interview-david-ives-and-roselee-blooston-copy-mp2 WQUN AM1220 Quinnipiac University radio (10/25/17)
YouTube Video Talk-YAWP!-An Open Dialogue on Creativity & the Arts w. Roselee Blooston, Quinnipiac University (10/24/17)
Interview with WVIA, NPR affiliate, on Keystone Theater 3-book event (11/3/22)
ALMOST: MY LIFE IN THE THEATER, on ambition, failure, and the drive to create, a memoir
AVAILABLE NOW on AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, AND BOOKSHOP.ORG
READ MEET THE AUTHOR on ALMOST from Well Worn Books
READ Q & A with Deborah Kalb on ALMOST
LISTEN TO GOOD GRIEF INTERVIEW with Cheryl Jones on ALMOST
PUBLICATION DATE: SEPTEMBER 29, 2022
Award-winning author Roselee Blooston tells the story of her decades-long struggle to fulfill her early promise by becoming a professional actress, taking her to far-flung locales from Europe to Texas to New York City. Along the way, she encounters several Oscar winners and nominees––including Meryl Streep, Greer Garson, and Olympia Dukakis––who each had a profound effect on her self-image and trajectory, though no one had more influence than her mother, a visual artist, whose life served as both cautionary tale and beacon. Blooston can lay claim to trailblazer status as a solo performer, but she asks herself and the reader to deeply consider the true meaning of success and the value of a creative life. Her calling, commitment, and longing for recognition will resonate with anyone who has followed a passion, been thwarted in the attempt, and then successfully and happily reinvented themselves.