LSC alumna Michelle Lerner ’98 has published a novel, Ring, to excellent reviews. Described as “touching and thought-provoking” by Kirkus Reviews, Ring received a rare starred review from Booklist. Library Journal calls it “a modern classic” and “a must purchase addition for people facing grief and looking for hope and healing.” Published on January 25 by Bancroft Press, Ring is the story of Lee, a middle-aged non-binary person grappling with the loss of their young adult daughter; Lee’s relationship with a dog, Ring, leads to their rebirth.
An accomplished poet and executive director of the Laura Boss Poetry Foundation, Lerner spent two semesters at LSC in 1995-96 doing welfare and family cases. She was mentored by the late LSC co-founder Gary Bellow, whom she describes as “a great man,” and by Julie McCormack, Senior Clinical Instructor and Director of the Safety Net Project, who was “so good and so thorough” and “had a big effect on me,” Lerner says. Lerner spent a decade as a legal services attorney including at Greater Boston Legal Services.
“LSC was really important to me, as was studying with Gary Bellows,” Lerner says, citing his “dedication to solving clients’ problems in whatever way possible.”
Many of her poems draw from her experiences as a welfare lawyer, she says, and while her novel doesn’t address that subject, “it does consider a number of ethical and legal/political issues.”