After my daughter died, I often could not get up off of the floor. I stumbled through my days half in the grave, planning ways to get all the way there," says Amber Keyser, a biologist-turned-writer, who gravitates to stories about heroes, scientists, and adventurers.

Her recently published novel, The Way Back from Broken, is a tale of survival — physical, emotional, mental — that is earning critical praise.

At 3 Good Books (a blog series I host) Amber Keyser shares three good works that got her through.