Laid: A Memoir of Love, Sex, and Marriage

Sarah Gallucci spent her girlhood trying to numb the pain of abandonment and violence through drugs, booze, boys, and sex. Now pregnant and newly married, she thinks she is building a more perfect life - until the traumatic births of her two children, just over two years apart, turn everything upside down. Overwhelmed by the crushing responsibilities of motherhood and pressure of performing her “wifely duties,” she gets angry and starts to rebel. Gallucci takes matters into her own hands, offering her husband a hall pass, an invitation to sleep with other women. The hall pass gives her a break from gender expectations, allowing her to connect with herself more, but ultimately leads to more disconnection in the marriage. She keeps up appearances, even moving abroad for her husband’s job, pretending everything is fine. When the real reason behind the hall pass comes out, her marriage starts to fall apart even more - pushing love, trust, healing, freedom, and forgiveness to their absolute edge.

Laid is a raw, powerful look at how our culture traps women in the roles of wife and mother, piling on unfair physical, mental, and sexual expectations. Gallucci draws from her own life to explore what women face in today’s world - the violence they endure, the anger they hold inside and how their bodies often end up screaming it before their mouths do. Ultimately, it’s about rejecting the pressure to always be the “good woman,” “good wife,” and “good mother” to reclaim your own life and agency.