NEED TO KNOW

Read an exclusive excerpt from It Was Never Meant to Be Perfect by folk musician, Broadway composer and disability advocate Gaelynn Lea — and see the cover!

In her new memoir, Lea, who was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, addresses "love and faith, sexuality and mortality, the frustration and the joy of difference."

It Was Never Meant to Be Perfect hits shelves on April 14, 2026

One afternoon, when I was about 9 years old, my mom needed to attend a meeting a few blocks away, and she left my older sister, Corry, to babysit Greg and me. Corry wasn’t often put in the command zone, let alone for two whole unsupervised hours. It felt electric, almost dangerous, as we watched my mom drive away from the house.

My wheelchair had no battery power and was plugged into its b

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