Non-Fiction, Memoir & Biography
And Then There Was One: The Chosen Family That Saved Me
by Avery D. Rowan
2
Readers
2
Reviews
5
Avg rating
About the book
They weren’t blood. They were everything. Growing up on Chicago’s West Side, Marcus Weaver found the love, protection, and belonging he needed in an unforgettable chosen family. For more than thirty years, they filled his life with laughter, faith, hard truths, complicated love, and the kind of friendship that becomes family. But when illness and loss begin taking them one by one, Marcus is forced to confront what it means to remain after the people who helped shape him are gone. Told with unflinching honesty, vivid humor, and deep tenderness, And Then There Was One: The Chosen Family That Saved Me* is a true story of survival, grief, identity, and the extraordinary people who choose us—and change us forever.
Synopsis
And Then There Was One: The Chosen Family That Saved Me is the true story of Marcus Weaver, a Black gay man coming of age on Chicago’s West Side while searching for the love, safety, and belonging he cannot find in conventional ideas of family. That belonging arrives through an unforgettable circle of people who choose Marcus—and whom he chooses in return. RJ brings fierce love, jealousy, and more than a little mess. Legend fills every room with humor, life, and unmistakable presence. Pops becomes the elder Marcus needs: a man who loves him enough to tell him the truth without flinching. Alongside Trice and the others, they create a family through Saturday-night fellowships, church, music, kitchen-table conversations, arguments, forgiveness, caregiving, and years of shared history. Their relationships are neither simple nor perfect. Marcus navigates forbidden love, betrayal, faith, identity, parenthood, and the pressure to remain the dependable person everyone else needs. Yet through every transition, his chosen family gives him a place where he can be fully known. As the years pass, illness and death begin taking members of the circle one by one. Marcus becomes caregiver, witness, and keeper of their stories. Each loss forces him to confront not only his grief, but also the identity he built around loving, protecting, and providing for others. Eventually, he faces the devastating reality embedded in the book’s title: after decades of being surrounded by the people who helped shape and save him, he is the one left to carry their memories forward. Spanning more than thirty years, And Then There Was One is both a deeply personal memoir and a universal exploration of the families we create. Told with emotional honesty, sharp humor, and vivid specificity, it honors the imperfect people who loved Marcus into being while asking what it means to survive them—and whether the one who remains can finally learn to live for himself.
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Reader reviews
Kelly Thompson
I really enjoyed this memoir. It’s such an honest and emotional story about family, friendship, identity, love and loss. What stood out to me most was the author’s voice. There are moments that had me laughing, followed by moments that were genuinely heartbreaking and that balance made the story feel incredibly real. I loved seeing the chosen family come together and how each person brought something different to Marcus’s life. The relationship with his mother was also beautifully handled, especially because the changes happened slowly and naturally. The ending really stayed with me. It was heartbreaking but beautifully written, it made the title feel even more meaningful. A heartfelt, funny and emotional memoir!
Jack
Just finished And Then There Was One and it wrecked me in the best way. The voice carries the whole thing: Avery Rowan can go from laugh-out-loud funny to gutting within a paragraph and it never feels jarring. Watching this chosen family get built one person at a time (RJ, Pops, Legend, Trice, CC) makes the losses in the back half hit so much harder. That title finally landing on the second-to-last page is one of the best gut-punches I've read in a memoir in a while. Honest, funny, devastating. Highly recommend.
Author thank-yous & replies
From the author to Kelly Thompson
Thank you so much for reading And Then There Was One with such care. It means more than I can express that you connected with both the laughter and the heartbreak, because that balance reflects how this chosen family truly lived and loved. I’m especially grateful that Marcus’s relationship with his mother and the meaning of the title stayed with you. Those parts of the story came from a deeply personal place. Thank you for seeing the heart of this memoir and for sharing such a thoughtful review.
27 Sep 2026
From the author to Jack
Jack, thank you for reading And Then There Was One with such an open heart. You saw the humor in this family, the love that held us together, and how deeply each person mattered. Seeing you name RJ, Pops, Legend, Trice, and CC touched me more than I can say. I carried these people and their stories for years before I could put them on the page. Knowing they stayed with you after you finished is one of the greatest gifts a reader can give me. Thank you for your generous words and for recommending our story.
23 Sep 2026