Short Synopsis
This inspiring, true tale follows author Alexandra Penney's journey from financial security to economic ruin. After investing—and losing—her life savings with Bernie Madoff, Penney is forced to confront her deepest fears.

Full Synopsis
Throughout her life, Alexandra Penney's worst fear was becoming a bag lady. Even as she worked several jobs while raising a son as a single mother, wrote a multimillion-dollar bestselling advice book, and became editor in chief of Self magazine, she was haunted by the image of herself alone, bankrupt, and living on the street. She even went to therapy in an attempt to alleviate the nagging in her mind that told her that all she had worked for could crumble.

And then, one day, that's exactly what happened. Alexandra Penney had taken a friend's advice and invested nearly everything she had ever earned with Bernie Madoff. So one day she was successful and wealthy; the next she had almost nothing. Suddenly, at an age when many Americans retire, Penney saw her worst nightmares coming true.

Entertaining and inspiring, The Bag Lady Papers chronicles Penney's struggle to cope with the devastating financial and emotional fallout of being cheated out of her life savings, and traces her journey back to sanity and security. Her outraged blogs about the Madoff scandal in The Daily Beast and her commentary on CNN have generated millions of hits and earned her a loyal following.

How do you pick yourself up after your worst nightmare comes true? Penney shows us how.

"[Penney] writes in an appealingly plainspoken way...about gaining a deeper appreciation of life in her reduced post-Madoff circumstances." ---The Wall Street Journal

"[Penny's] struggle is genuine, her charm expansive and surprising, and her strength winning." ---Publishers Weekly