Brick by Brick is a memoir about the tough, inspiring story of a young woman who comes of age in New Bedford, Massachusetts in the 1970s. Lynn Donohue drops out of school at 15 and is heading nowhere, without a plan or a future. Eventually, she takes a masonry course and embarks on a career as a bricklayer. The work is hard and the money is good, but the beauty and rhythm of the work also give her a sense of purpose and empower her as never before. 

Enduring harassment and torment nearly ever step of the way from the men with whom she works, she moves on and up through the ranks, eventually running her own multi-million-dollar masonry business.