<P>?Lyrical and down-to-earth, wry and heartbreaking, <EM>This Life Is in Your Hands </EM>is a fascinating and powerful memoir. Melissa Coleman doesn?t just tell the story of her family?s brave experiment and private tragedy; she brings to life an important and underappreciated chapter of our recent history.? ?Tom Perrotta  <P>In a work of power and beauty reminiscent of Tobias Wolff, Jeannette Walls, and Dave Eggers, Melissa Coleman delivers a luminous, evocative childhood memoir exploring the hope and struggle behind her family's search for a sustainable lifestyle. With echoes of <I>The Liars? Club </I>and <I>Don?t Let?s Go to the Dogs Tonight</I>, Coleman?s searing chronicle tells the true story of her upbringing on communes and sustainable farms along the rugged Maine coastline in the 1970?s, embedded within a moving, personal quest for truth that her experiences produced. </P>