Awake

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, OPRAH DAILY, GOODREADS, KIRKUS REVIEWS, AND MORE • A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “I can’t imagine any woman reading this without feeling seen, inspired, and totally empowered.” —Mel Robbins • “A MASTERPIECE, you guys. This memoir by the great Jen Hatmaker *cannot* be missed. I was riveted as if to a thriller and touched/moved/inspired in ways I can’t quite articulate yet. Just please read. You’ll thank me.” —Elin Hilderbrand, on Instagram From Jen Hatmaker—beloved New York Times bestselling author and host of the For the Love podcast—a brutally honest, funny, and revealing memoir about the traumatic end of her twenty-six-year-long marriage, and the beginning of a different kind of love story. At 2:30 a.m. on July 11, 2020, Jen Hatmaker woke up to her husband of twenty-six years whispering in his phone to another woman from their bed. It was the end of life as she knew it. In the months that followed, she went from being a shiny, funny, popular leader to a divorced wreck on antidepressants and antianxiety meds, parenting five kids alone with no clue about the functioning of her own bank accounts. Having led millions of women for over a decade—urging them to embrace authenticity, find radical agency, and create healthy relationship—she felt like a catastrophic failure. In Awake, Jen shares for the first time what happened when she found herself completely lost at sea—and how she made it to shore. In candid, sur­prisingly funny vignettes spanning forty years of girlhood, marriage, and parenting, Jen lays bare the disorienting upheaval of midlife—the implosion of a marriage, the unraveling of religious and cultural systems, and the grief that accompanies change you didn’t ask for. And, drawing on all resources—from without and within—Jen dares to question the systems beneath the whole house of cards, and to reckon with the myths, half-truths, and lies that brought her to this point. More than one woman’s story, Awake is a critical analysis of the story given to all of us: the story of gender limitations, religious subservience, body shame, self-erasure. With refreshing candor, Jen explores a midlife renaissance—grieving what’s lost, cherishing possibility, and entering the second half of life wide awake.
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‘I cannot think of a single person who wouldn’t find hope and inspiration in these pages’ – Mel Robbins, author of The Let Them Theory ‘This book doesn’t just speak to your heart, it revives it’ – Jenna Kutcher, author of How Are You, Really? Perfect for fans of Untamed, Awake is a powerful memoir of self-discovery, authenticity and finding the courage to rethink and rebuild your life after heartbreak. A truly brilliant read, it’s also a fascinating account of a woman learning to question the rules of the oppressively patriarchal US church in which she grew up. At 2.30 a.m. on July 11, 2020, author and mother-of-five Jen Hatmaker woke up to her husband of twenty-six years voice texting his girlfriend in bed next to her. Life as she knew it was over. In Awake, she scrutinises the toxic systems that led to the end of her marriage, sharing intimate, sometimes hilariously hard moments along the way. Beautifully written and shot through with deep emotion, this is a story of hope and resilience, of unpicking the past and challenging limitations around the kind of person you can be. It’s a love letter to friendship, family and the power of community, and a roadmap showing how to cope, survive and even thrive when all seems lost. 'A powerful howl of honesty that will open the eyes and hearts of every single woman who sees herself in its pages, which is to say, all of us. This book is the best kind of medicine' – Dani Shapiro, author of Inheritance and Signal Fires
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Jen Hatmaker dacht alles op de rails te hebben tot haar huwelijk na 26 jaar opeens voorbij was. Van populaire podcasthost en bestsellerauteur veranderde ze in een gescheiden vrouw met vijf kinderen, zonder houvast en vol vragen. In Awake vertelt ze openhartig en met humor hoe ze vanuit totale ontwrichting een nieuw begin vond. Awake is meer dan een persoonlijk verhaal. Het is een taboedoorbrekende zoektocht naar vrijheid, verlangen en vrouw-zijn in de huidige maatschappij. Hatmaker laat zien hoe je te midden van verlies een tweede leven kunt ontdekken.