Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
It Wasn't Meant to Be Perfect: A Memoir

It Wasn't Meant to Be Perfect: A Memoir

Lea, Gaelynn

Hardcover

Biographies GeneralCountry & Folk

Publisher Price: $30.00

ISBN10: 1643756435
ISBN13: 9781643756431
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Published: Apr 14 2026
Pages: 304
Weight: 1.05
Height: 1.20 Width: 6.50 Depth: 9.50
Language: English
Folk musician, Broadway composer, and disability advocate Gaelynn Lea's warm, funny, poignant memoir is a love letter to every kind of body, to music, and to making it work--inviting us to embrace all of life's experiences with heart and determination

Gaelynn Lea was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta. Her parents were loving, cash-strapped theater kids, and she grew up racing about in her first electric wheelchair, having adventures with her siblings, and handing out playbills at her parents' dinner theater shows. Transfixed by an orchestra performance in 5th grade, Gaelynn was determined to play the cello. When her shortened limbs made playing the instrument challenging, she employed a familiar tactic: adapting. What if she held a violin upright in her wheelchair, like the world's tiniest cello? That what if was the key that unlocked her lifelong music career.

After winning NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concert in 2016, Lea became a full-time touring musician--and that's when she began to truly struggle with the inaccessibility of the music world. Out of necessity, she became a dedicated advocate and activist, pushing back against the prevailing stereotypes, assumptions, and barriers with her own gently defiant style. Lea's warm, funny, deeply-felt memoir addresses love and faith, sexuality and mortality, the frustration and the joy of difference. She shows how disability inspires and enables unique and indispensable contributions to the world, and reminds readers to think creatively, fight for what they love, and savor the journey.

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