About the Book
Behind the Educator: Finding Light When Life Unravels begins where most love stories do — with hope. Amy Paulson and her then-husband Joshua thought the hardest thing their marriage would face was their years-long struggle to have children. They had no idea what was coming.
Joshua built a career as a passionate high school principal in California’s public schools, in Palo Alto and Santa Rosa, a man who believed deeply in what schools could be and poured himself into that belief. What followed was years of watching someone Amy loved lose himself when his career was derailed by what felt like abuses of power. The ripple effect reached every corner of their family’s life until it unraveled completely.
More than an account of institutional failure, Behind the Educator: Finding Light When Life Unravels is a love story: about a marriage tested beyond its limits, about codependency and the quiet courage it takes to finally save yourself, and about the kind of acceptance that can only come from truly understanding another person’s pain.
I always wanted to write a book, I just never thought it would be centered on my marriage. I've spent most of my life being a private person, someone who processes things quietly.
Like rings of a tree trunk, every year that passes makes a relationship more layered and complicated. Sharing a raw look at our imperfect but intimate relationship wasn't exactly on my bucket list.
But I kept coming back to one thing: things can't change until people understand how one problem becomes many. And I watched these problems unfold, up close.
I hope you read this with an open heart. I wrote it with one.
-Amy
Coming Soon:
Available August 4, 2026