An affecting diary of one year’s hardships and healing, by one of the twentieth century’s most extraordinary memoirists

For decades, readers have celebrated May Sarton’s journals for their candid look at relationships, success and failure, communion with nature, and the curious stages of aging. In Recovering, Sarton focuses on her sixty-sixth year—one marked by the turmoil of a mastectomy, the end of a treasured relationship, and the loneliness that visits a life of chosen solitude. Each deeply felt entry in the journal, written between 1978 and 1979, is laced with poignancy and honesty as she grapples with a cold reception for her latest novel, the sad descent of a close friend into senility, and other struggles.

Despite the trials of this one painful year, Sarton writes of her progression toward a hard-won renewal, achieved through good friendships, the levity provided by her cherished dog, and peaceful days in her garden.

A candid account of Sarton’s revival from personal darkness back into light, Recovering is another stunning entry in the author’s irrepressible oeuvre.