Author Michael Hackard’s memoir chronicles his spiritual and professional growth, beginning at age six when he scooted over in his chair to make room for his guardian angel, having just learned of its existence from a nun at his Catholic grade school.

That lesson dovetailed with those of the Irish-born grandmother he called Muzzy, for whom “The veil between this world and the next was paper-thin. Guardian angels, deathbed visions, prayers for the dead—all part of the fabric of daily life.”

Hackard, a lawyer, called upon his invisible helper several times in his life: when he underwent brain surgery at 42; when an anti-seizure drug sickened him two years later, and when the nation’s economy went into freefall in 2008.

Through a chance conversation, Hackard had learned that his anti-seizure drug, though marketed as safe, had been linked to liver failure. That first-hand experience inspired him to represent breast implant clients and those who’d developed progressive lung disease after taking the diet drug Fen-Phen.

Contingency practices like Hackard’s relied on automatic lines of credit, tapped against expected settlements. This worked well for a time. But by 2007, credit markets were tightening, and “cases that would have settled in six months lingered for years.” By 2008, the model failed entirely, leaving Hackard’s firm deeply in debt.

Throughout his trials, Hackard was sustained by his faith and family. Making Room is also about growing up privileged in Sacremento; his father, grandmother, and the beloved black woman who worked for his family; the Cuban Missile Crisis, and a frightening brush with the Manson family.

The memoir delivers many lively stories and interesting characters. The narrative is marred, however, by Hackard’s penchant for short sentences (“Law partner dead. Fifteen million in debt. Comfortable years over.”) and copious subheadings within chapters (“The Little House,” “When She Left,” “Years Later”), which make for choppy reading.

This uneven writing impacts enjoyment, but for those willing to overlook the issue, Hackard’s memoir offers many rewards.

Also available as an ebook.