The Second Journey: The Road Back to Yourself - Softcover

Anderson, Joan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1401341039 ISBN 13: 9781401341039

Publisher: Hachette Books, 2009

Synopsis

From the bestselling author of A Year by the Sea, this memoir is a coming-of-age story for every woman who has asked herself: "Now what?" The Second Journey chronicles Anderson's quest to restore equilibrium to her life after the responsibilities of being a mother, wife, grandmother, caretaker, and bestselling author distract her--almost dangerously--from taking care of herself. Suffused with Anderson's characteristic humor and warmth, this book is a permission slip for any woman who seeks to step out of line and create her own destiny. As Joan shares her stories of balancing love, marriage, family, parents, and spirituality, she inspires and instructs readers to find peace and a unique purpose within their own lives. She offers reassurance that the best is yet to come, and empowers other women to come of age in the middle of life.

About this title

About the Author

Joan Anderson is a journalist and the bestselling author of A Year by the Sea, An Unfinished Marriage, A Walk on the Beach, and A Weekend to Change Your Life. A graduate of Yale University School of Drama, she lives with her husband on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and conducts weekend workshops for women throughout the country. For more information, please visit joananderson.org

From Publishers Weekly

After the publication of her first book of self-transformation (A Year by the Sea) in 1999, Anderson writes of being consumed by a pressing schedule and a web of family cares that have derailed her from her original trajectory of self-truth. While her first journey consisted of separating herself from a previous life that had defined her as compliant and dependent (a wife and mother), her current journey involves taking stock of the progress and strengths gained in the previous 10 years. She attempted to get back on track by discounting counterfeit journeys (such as illusory ambition), refusing to be blackmailed by her ailing mother and resisting the urge to join her grown children's already-charged households over Christmas. Instead, she found sustenance in weekend seminars with other women; a pilgrimage to Monomoy, Cape Cod; and a magical three-week stint to the island of Iona, Scotland. Self-help platitudes abound, as Anderson quotes her mentor Joan Erikson (The most important thing is to share what you know), and her similes grow tiresome (she compares herself to a tangled, empty lobster trap). For readers eager for more, though, she does drop hints of marital discord and of leaving her journey unfinished. (May)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Hachette Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1401341039
• ISBN 13: 9781401341039
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 223