Reviews

HARD TIME & NURSERY RHYMES: A Mother’s Tales of Law and Disorder
By Claudia Trupp

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Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes evokes laughter, anger, tears, and pride as Claudia Trupp bounces back and forth between stories about the legal system and about her family.
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-- NACDL Magazine

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A fresh, compelling memoir. . . Shows all the gritty faces of both jobs -- Public Defender and Mommy -- and the attitude that truly prevails is one familiar to the fighter, parent, child, colleague, and criminal in all of us. Read More »
-- New York Post

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"Anyone-lawyer or not, male or female-can relate to these stories. . . You will enjoy this book." Read More »
-- New York Law Journal

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This book centres primarily around the author’s career as an appellate attorney. The stories she tells of the clients whose cases she has appealed (convicted rapists, murderers and drug dealers) are both riveting and unsettling. Just when I think that the author’s work life and her home life couldn’t be any different, she pulls a rabbit out of her hat and manages to link the two together through broad issues such as faith, as well as smaller issues, such as a name shared by her child and the child of one of her clients. Read More »
-- Walking With Scissors

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Though we’re not usually big on biographies, NYC criminal defense attorney Claudia Trupp’s chronicles of being a working mum of three while plying her criminal-filled trade, kept us engaged from beginning to end. While the book focuses more on her work life than her children, the two are more connected that you might think. Each chapter of the book focuses on one of her clients and she seamlessly intertwines their story into a parenting dilemma she’s facing while challenging our perspective on everything from guilt to tantrums. We’re guessing that any mum who’s ever struggled with work/life balance and enjoyed an episode of Law & Order will enjoy this book.
-- Yoyo Mama

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"A criminal defense attorney explores her struggles to balance raising three young daughters with a demanding career representing hardened criminals. This engaging memoir delves into guilt and the hard choices working moms face, and provides perspective along with lots of laughs."
-- Working Mother

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"Trupp expertly reaches out to every working mother as she describes her day-to-day challenge of being in two places at once… This brashly frank memoir is packed with minute details of her work that will enthrall fans of legal thrillers…"
--Publishers Weekly

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"There are inspirational books that once we begin them we simply can’t put them down, they speak to us like an old friend, with just the right balance of wisdom and humor. For me, HARD TIME & NURSERY RYHMES is that type of book… The combination of tales will sometimes leave you horrified and at other times make you laugh out loud. Through it all, Trupp uses her experiences to explore broader issues such as faith, balancing career, motherhood, accepting limitations and discovering what’s important in life."
--Cheryl Baisden for New Jersey Lawyer Magazine

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"This book describes some of the encounters of a young woman—a young mother—with the criminal justice system, always serious, but often humorous as well… This is a very entertaining and enlightening volume that contains no pandering or flippant stories, but serious observation of serious problems."
--Jewish Press

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"A seasoned New York City criminal-defense attorney juxtaposes life defending hardened criminals with caring for her inquisitive daughters… Though the criminals she steadfastly defends are thieves, rapists and murderers, Trupp discusses how she has learned important lessons and found enrichment from her interactions with them."
--Kirkus Reviews

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Hard Time & Nursery Rhymes is gritty and compelling and impossible to put down. It takes the fluff, predictability and softness out of work/life balance. Instead, it relays an honest, intense and funny depiction of working motherhood that has inspired me to do better (and be better) at both work and home.
-- Deborah Epstein Henry, Esq., Founder & President, Flex-Time Lawyers LLC

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