Juana Libedinsky “Downhill: A Memoir of an Accident, Two Comas, Many Books, and Starting Over”

Journalist and author Juana Libedinsky will present her new memoir, Downhill: A Memoir of an Accident, Two Comas, Many Books, and Starting Over, at Southampton Arts Center on Saturday, September 26, at 4 PM.

When a devastating skiing accident in the Patagonian Andes leaves Conrado, a New York lawyer at the height of his career, in a coma, it is not only his fate that hangs in the balance. His wife, Juana, and their two children have their lives upended overnight.

In Downhill (Urano Publishing; on sale September 22, 2026), Libedinsky tells the story she lived, tracing a journey from the vast stillness of the Andes to the fluorescent-lit hospital corridors of Buenos Aires and, eventually, to Manhattan and Southampton, where the family must learn how to rebuild a life when the crisis itself is supposedly over.

Much of Downhill unfolds in Southampton, where Libedinsky and her family spend their summers and where the rhythms of the East End - friends, ocean swimming, community, and summer life - become part of the family’s attempt to find normalcy again after the accident.

As she navigates coma care, hospital bureaucracy, and the challenges of rebuilding a family’s life across two countries, Libedinsky clings to a few anchors: an eclectic cohort of friends and neighbors, tennis, and books. Lots of books.

Told with the sharp eye of a seasoned reporter and a dry humor that surfaces in unexpected places, Downhill is ultimately a love story - to a husband, two children, books, community, and the stubborn belief that things will, somehow, be okay.

“Wrenching, suspenseful and sometimes even funny. A gripping true story of grit, terror and ultimately love.”

— Pamela Druckerman, author of Bringing Up Bébé and The Monogamy Prize

One of Zibby Owens’ Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2026