We all have a story to tell.
The important part is that we honor it.
Third Rail Press
Third Rail Press
Third Rail Press Third Rail Press
Women live in silence every day.
Whether at home, at work, or in our broader culture, the pressure to not speak out about our lives is immense. From the enormity of grief, to the ferocity of anger, and even the tenderness of joy, we are taught to minimize our experiences into something quiet, simple, sweet - easily digestible for others while we alone are left to choke on the complexity.
Third Rail Press was created to give women the opportunity to tell the untold stories of their lives.
Here we listen to what others aren’t willing to hear, and we say everything we haven’t been allowed to share. And it is here, in this open conversation about women’s real lives, that we see the truth of ourselves and each other: our pain, our joy, our depth; our utter beauty and strength.
Welcome to life on the third rail.
How we came to be
Alle Mudrick and Mary Adkins co-founded Third Rail Press after being told too many times that true stories like theirs were untouchable—a “third rail” in big publishing.
For decades, publishing gatekeepers have deemed such stories "too difficult" or "unmarketable": the raw grief of miscarriage, the quiet devastation of infertility, the bone ache of infant loss. These experiences, which shape millions of women's lives, have been relegated to whispered conversations and anonymous forums.
Meanwhile, women continue to carry their pain in silence, shame, and isolation.
Third Rail Press exists because the quakes that create seismic shifts in women's lives deserve more than a footnote or a trigger warning; they deserve to be told in their full complexity, with all their screaming edges and unexpected light.
We believe there's voltage in the truth. When we connect with a story that vibrates with familiarity, something electric happens. We discover we aren't the only one suffering, wondering, asking secret questions; we understand that this is a shimmering web.
We don’t come alive in silos. Literature shouldn't either.
The Team
The Team
The Team The Team
The Team
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Alle Mudrick
(‘Al’)
FOUNDER & CHIEF PUBLISHER
Alle Mudrick is the founder of Third Rail Press and author of the memoir Blue Hour Homecoming: Finding Life on the Fringes of Reproduction. At TRP, she works closely with our authors at all stages of publication, including editing, publicity, and coaching them through the process. She is also a memoir coach in The Book Incubator™.
Before TRP, Alle spent 14 years as a research & strategy consultant for Fortune 500 companies where she became an expert in guiding people toward self-discovery and used telling the truth of people’s lives as a powerful agent for change in industries as varied as healthcare and media. She has a BBA in Marketing and MBA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame, but her greatest education has always come from conversations with real people.
Alle can usually be found writing, reading, or backpacking through the wilderness. She lives in New Mexico with her husband, three children, never enough books, and the best dog in the world.
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Mary Adkins
Co-Founder
Mary Adkins is the author of the memoir You Might Feel a Little Pressure: Finding Wonder After Miscarriage, forthcoming from Third Rail Press, and the novels When You Read This (Indie Next Pick, “Best Book of 2019” by Good Housekeeping and Real Simple), Privilege (Today.com “Best Summer Read”), and Palm Beach (New York Post “Best Book of 2021,” and “like a sandy beach, equal parts beautiful and uncomfortable” according to the Associated Press). Her books have been published in 13 countries, and her essays and reporting have appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, and more.
A graduate of Yale Law School and Duke University, she founded The Book Incubator™, which she runs alongside novelist Rufi Thorpe. She lives in Dallas with her family and a feral cat she's determined to domesticate.
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Jenny Bremer
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Jenny Bremer spent 14 years leading large-scale, complex research studies for Fortune 500 companies like CVS and Target, but what she was most interested in were the stories within the data. At TRP, she uses not only her wealth of project management experience but also this emphasis on storytelling to bring real women’s stories to the readers who need to hear them.
Jenny graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Psychology and Statistics from the University of California Irvine. She loves theatre and baking and lives in Seattle with her husband, daughter, and two tiny dogs.
You deserve to be heard
You deserve to be heard
You deserve to be heard You deserve to be heard
Healing our suffering is possible. It starts with feeling seen and heard.