Promise Me: How a Sister's Love Launched the Global Movement to End Breast Cancer

Crown Archetype is proud to publish Promise Me, the powerful and inspiring memoir by Nancy G. Brinker, founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure ®, the global leader of the breast cancer movement.

Growing up, Nancy and her sister Suzy were inseparable, with the elegant, socially poised Suzy serving as younger sister Nancy's best friend and role model. Then in 1977, at the age of thirty-four, Suzy was stricken with breast cancer. Three years later, having endured an uninformed doctor, surgeries that left her feeling mutilated and stripped of her sexuality, and fighting through several grueling courses of chemotherapy and radiation, Susan G. Komen lay dying. Toward the end, she begged her sister to do something, anything, to make sure that other women with breast cancer would not have to suffer as she had from the ravages of this disease.

"Promise me, Nanny," she said. "Promise me you won't let it go on like this."

Her heart broken, Nancy promised: "I swear, Suzy. Even if it takes the rest of my life."

At that moment, Susan G. Komen for the Cure was born.

Promise Me is the story of how that vow launched Nancy on a thirty-year-long mission to change the way the world thought of, spoke of, and treated breast cancer. Brinker's unparalleled success at turning $200 and a list of would-be donors into a movement that has saved the lives of millions of women was recognized by President Obama in August 2009, when he awarded Brinker the Presidential Medal of Freedom. "In the months after making that promise," the President noted, "Nancy lay awake at night wondering if one person can really make a difference. Nancy's life is the answer."

By giving a copy of Promise Me to your own sister or loved one, together you can join the global movement to end breast cancer.

Meet Nancy G. Brinker at a Promise Me Book Signing near you. Book tour sponsored by Yoplait. Yoplait is a registered trademark of YOPLAIT Marques Internationales SAS (France) and is used under license.

Watch a Video with Nancy G. Brinker and share with your friends.

Post an Excerpt from Promise Me on your social network site or blog.

Download the Promise Me Readers' Guide, and plan to hold a reading group with your friends and family. Encourage your local bookstore or library to do the same.

Engage at Facebook.com/SusanGKomenfortheCure. Join the conversation in the "Promise Me by Nancy G. Brinker Facebook Event."

Learn More

Find out how you can get involved at: Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Visit Books for Better Living for more on advice and inspirational books to improve your life.

Questions? Email us at CrownMarketingPublicity@RandomHouse.com.

*The Promise Me For My Sister preorder campaign offer is no longer valid. Designated recipients from this promotion will receive their copies of Promise Me on or around October 15, 2010. If the recipient does not receive his/her book by October 30, 2010, he/she should send an email request to CrownMarketingPublicity@RandomHouse.com. Read the Official Preorder Campaign Terms and Conditions.

For more information about Promise Me or to learn how your organization can get involved in the book campaign, email CrownMarketingPublicity@RandomHouse.com.

Praise for Promise Me

"More than twenty-five years ago, Nancy's love for her cherished sister sparked a promise to fight breast cancer. Today that promise has launched a global movement to end breast cancer, and Nancy is fulfilling her promise to women all around the world. Promise Me is an inspiring tribute to a sister's love and a must-read for all who know the pink ribbon."
—LAURA BUSH, former First Lady and author of Spoken from the Heart

"Promise Me emotionally and elegantly chronicles how sisterly love changed the course of modern medicine by catalyzing women around the world to battle breast cancer."
—MEHMET OZ, M.D., host, The Dr. Oz Show and professor and vice-chair of surgery, New York Presbyterian/Columbia

"Susan G. Komen for the Cure has become a brand name in the fight against breast cancer, thanks to the tireless devotion of Nancy Brinker. In Promise Me we learn about the remarkable work of that organization, and also finally get to know the woman behind the name—Suzy Goodman Komen's sense of fun and family comes through these pages as a bright light leading her sister through trials and triumphs."
—COKIE ROBERTS, news analyst and author of We Are Our Mothers' Daughters and Founding Mothers

"This is three beautiful books rolled into one: a poignant memoir, a guide to running an entrepreneurial foundation, and a set of inspiring stories about the struggle against breast cancer. When her beloved sister, Suzy, died, Nancy Brinker's life's work began. This book is about the meaning of life. It will move and enlighten you."
—WALTER ISAACSON, bestselling author of Einstein: His Life and Universe and Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

"In this deeply thoughtful, assertive, sensitive memoir of the sisters' growing up and devotion to each other in life and death, Brinker chronicles the long path she trod to create Susan G. Komen for the Cure."
—Publishers Weekly

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