Between Two Kingdoms

As seen in AMERICAN SYMPHONY on Netflix with Jon Batiste 'A propulsive, soulful story of mourning and gratitude - and an intimate portrait of one woman's sojourn in the wilderness between life and death.' TARA WESTOVER, author of Educated __________ We all face moments that bring us to our knees: heartbreak, trauma, illness. When things don't go to plan this is the book to reach for - an inspirational memoir about what we can learn about life from a brush with death. At just twenty-two, on the cusp of adult life, Suleika Jaouad was diagnosed with leukemia and given a 35 per cent chance of survival. For the next five years, her world comprised four white walls, a hospital bed, fluorescent lights, tubes and wires. She became patient 5624. At twenty-seven, and celebrating her first year of remission, Suleika realized that, having survived, she now had no idea how to live. And so she set out to meet some of the many strangers who had written to her about their experiences of life, death, healing and recovery in response to her Emmy-Award winning New York Times column, 'Life Interrupted'. Between Two Kingdoms is the result. Drawing on Suleika's TED Talk 'What almost dying taught me about living' with over 4 million views, it illuminates universal questions about how we live, mourn, heal and grow up, and what it means to begin again. __________ Praise for Between Two Kingdoms : 'A work of breathtaking creativity and heart-stopping humanity.' ELIZABETH GILBERT, author of Eat Pray Love 'A beautiful, elegant and heart-breaking book that provides a glimpse into the kingdom of illness.' SIDDHARTHA MUKHERJEE, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies 'No more doomscrolling. Read this book instead... Full of wisdom and resilience.' ADAM GRANT, author of Originals 'A deeply touching account of learning to live in the now, because nothing else is promised. I loved it.' KATHRYN MANNIX, author of With the End in Mind

As seen in AMERICAN SYMPHONY on Netflix with Jon Batiste 'A propulsive, soulful story of mourning and gratitude - and an intimate portrait of one woman's sojourn in the wilderness between life and death.' TARA WESTOVER, author of Educated __________ We all face moments that bring us to our knees: heartbreak, trauma, illness. When things don't go to plan this is the book to reach for - an inspirational memoir about what we can learn about life from a brush with death. At just twenty-two, on the cusp of adult life, Suleika Jaouad was diagnosed with leukemia and given a 35 per cent chance of survival. For the next five years, her world comprised four white walls, a hospital bed, fluorescent lights, tubes and wires. She became patient 5624. At twenty-seven, and celebrating her first year of remission, Suleika realized that, having survived, she now had no idea how to live. And so she set out to meet some of the many strangers who had written to her about their experiences of life, death, healing and recovery in response to her Emmy-Award winning New York Times column, 'Life Interrupted'. Between Two Kingdoms is the result. Drawing on Suleika's TED Talk 'What almost dying taught me about living' with over 4 million views, it illuminates universal questions about how we live, mourn, heal and grow up, and what it means to begin again. __________ Praise for Between Two Kingdoms : 'A work of breathtaking creativity and heart-stopping humanity.' ELIZABETH GILBERT, author of Eat Pray Love 'A beautiful, elegant and heart-breaking book that provides a glimpse into the kingdom of illness.' SIDDHARTHA MUKHERJEE, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies 'No more doomscrolling. Read this book instead... Full of wisdom and resilience.' ADAM GRANT, author of Originals 'A deeply touching account of learning to live in the now, because nothing else is promised. I loved it.' KATHRYN MANNIX, author of With the End in Mind

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A searing, deeply moving memoir of illness and recovery that traces one young woman's journey from diagnosis to remission to re-entry into "normal" life--from the author of the Life, Interrupted column in The New York Times ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Rumpus, She Reads, Library Journal, Booklist - "I was immersed for the whole ride and would follow Jaouad anywhere. . . . Her writing restores the moon, lights the way as we learn to endure the unknown."--Chanel Miller, The New York Times Book Review "Beautifully crafted . . . affecting . . . a transformative read . . . Jaouad's insights about the self, connectedness, uncertainty and time speak to all of us."-- The Washington Post In the summer after graduating from college, Suleika Jaouad was preparing, as they say in commencement speeches, to enter "the real world." She had fallen in love and moved to Paris to pursue her dream of becoming a war correspondent. The real world she found, however, would take her into a very different kind of conflict zone. It started with an itch--first on her feet, then up her legs, like a thousand invisible mosquito bites. Next came the exhaustion, and the six-hour naps that only deepened her fatigue. Then a trip to the doctor and, a few weeks shy of her twenty-third birthday, a diagnosis: leukemia, with a 35 percent chance of survival. Just like that, the life she had imagined for herself had gone up in flames. By the time Jaouad flew home to New York, she had lost her job, her apartment, and her independence. She would spend much of the next four years in a hospital bed, fighting for her life and chronicling the saga in a column for The New York Times . When Jaouad finally walked out of the cancer ward--after countless rounds of chemo, a clinical trial, and a bone marrow transplant--she was, according to the doctors, cured. But as she would soon learn, a cure is not where the work of healing ends; it's where it begins. She had spent the past 1,500 days in desperate pursuit of one goal--to survive. And now that she'd done so, she realized that she had no idea how to live. How would she reenter the world and live again? How could she reclaim what had been lost? Jaouad embarked--with her new best friend, Oscar, a scruffy terrier mutt--on a 100-day, 15,000-mile road trip across the country. She set out to meet some of the strangers who had written to her during her years in the hospital: a teenage girl in Florida also recovering from cancer; a teacher in California grieving the death of her son; a death-row inmate in Texas who'd spent his own years confined to a room. What she learned on this trip is that the divide between sick and well is porous, that the vast majority of us will travel back and forth between these realms throughout our lives. Between Two Kingdoms is a profound chronicle of survivorship and a fierce, tender, and inspiring exploration of what it means to begin again.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A searing, deeply moving memoir of illness and recovery that traces one young woman's journey from diagnosis to remission to re-entry into "normal" life--from the author of the Life, Interrupted column in The New York Times ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Rumpus, She Reads, Library Journal, Booklist - "I was immersed for the whole ride and would follow Jaouad anywhere. . . . Her writing restores the moon, lights the way as we learn to endure the unknown."--Chanel Miller, The New York Times Book Review "Beautifully crafted . . . affecting . . . a transformative read . . . Jaouad's insights about the self, connectedness, uncertainty and time speak to all of us."-- The Washington Post In the summer after graduating from college, Suleika Jaouad was preparing, as they say in commencement speeches, to enter "the real world." She had fallen in love and moved to Paris to pursue her dream of becoming a war correspondent. The real world she found, however, would take her into a very different kind of conflict zone. It started with an itch--first on her feet, then up her legs, like a thousand invisible mosquito bites. Next came the exhaustion, and the six-hour naps that only deepened her fatigue. Then a trip to the doctor and, a few weeks shy of her twenty-third birthday, a diagnosis: leukemia, with a 35 percent chance of survival. Just like that, the life she had imagined for herself had gone up in flames. By the time Jaouad flew home to New York, she had lost her job, her apartment, and her independence. She would spend much of the next four years in a hospital bed, fighting for her life and chronicling the saga in a column for The New York Times . When Jaouad finally walked out of the cancer ward--after countless rounds of chemo, a clinical trial, and a bone marrow transplant--she was, according to the doctors, cured. But as she would soon learn, a cure is not where the work of healing ends; it's where it begins. She had spent the past 1,500 days in desperate pursuit of one goal--to survive. And now that she'd done so, she realized that she had no idea how to live. How would she reenter the world and live again? How could she reclaim what had been lost? Jaouad embarked--with her new best friend, Oscar, a scruffy terrier mutt--on a 100-day, 15,000-mile road trip across the country. She set out to meet some of the strangers who had written to her during her years in the hospital: a teenage girl in Florida also recovering from cancer; a teacher in California grieving the death of her son; a death-row inmate in Texas who'd spent his own years confined to a room. What she learned on this trip is that the divide between sick and well is porous, that the vast majority of us will travel back and forth between these realms throughout our lives. Between Two Kingdoms is a profound chronicle of survivorship and a fierce, tender, and inspiring exploration of what it means to begin again.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A searing, deeply moving memoir of illness and recovery that traces one young woman's journey from diagnosis to remission and, ultimately, a road trip of healing and self-discovery. "A work of breathtaking creativity."--Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love "Elegant and heartbreaking."--Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies "Mended parts I thought were forever disintegrated."--Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy "A propulsive, soulful story of mourning and gratitude."--Tara Westover, author of Educated In the summer after graduating from college, Suleika Jaouad was preparing, as they say in commencement speeches, to enter "the real world." She had fallen in love and moved to Paris to pursue her dream of becoming a war correspondent. The real world she found, however, would take her into a very different kind of conflict zone. It started with an itch--first on her feet, then up her legs, like a thousand invisible mosquito bites. Next came the exhaustion, and the six-hour naps that only deepened her fatigue. Then a trip to the doctor and, a few weeks shy of her twenty-third birthday, a diagnosis: leukemia, with a 35 percent chance of survival. Just like that, the life she had imagined for herself had gone up in flames. By the time Jaouad flew home to New York, she had lost her job, her apartment, and her independence. She would spend much of the next four years in a hospital bed, fighting for her life and chronicling the saga in a column for The New York Times . When Jaouad finally walked out of the cancer ward--after countless rounds of chemo, a clinical trial, and a bone marrow transplant--she was, according to the doctors, cured. But as she would soon learn, a cure is not where the work of healing ends; it's where it begins. She had spent the past 1,500 days in desperate pursuit of one goal--to survive. And now that she'd done so, she realized that she had no idea how to live. How would she reenter the world and live again? How could she reclaim what had been lost? Jaouad embarked--with her new best friend, Oscar, a scruffy terrier mutt--on a 100-day, 15,000-mile road trip across the country. She set out to meet some of the strangers who had written to her during her years in the hospital: a teenage girl in Florida also recovering from cancer; a teacher in California grieving the death of her son; a death-row inmate in Texas who'd spent his own years confined to a room. What she learned on this trip is that the divide between sick and well is porous, that the vast majority of us will travel back and forth between these realms throughout our lives. Between Two Kingdoms is a profound chronicle of survivorship and a fierce, tender, and inspiring exploration of what it means to begin again.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A searing, deeply moving memoir of illness and recovery that traces one young woman's journey from diagnosis to remission and, ultimately, a road trip of healing and self-discovery. "A work of breathtaking creativity."--Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love "Elegant and heartbreaking."--Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies "Mended parts I thought were forever disintegrated."--Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy "A propulsive, soulful story of mourning and gratitude."--Tara Westover, author of Educated In the summer after graduating from college, Suleika Jaouad was preparing, as they say in commencement speeches, to enter "the real world." She had fallen in love and moved to Paris to pursue her dream of becoming a war correspondent. The real world she found, however, would take her into a very different kind of conflict zone. It started with an itch--first on her feet, then up her legs, like a thousand invisible mosquito bites. Next came the exhaustion, and the six-hour naps that only deepened her fatigue. Then a trip to the doctor and, a few weeks shy of her twenty-third birthday, a diagnosis: leukemia, with a 35 percent chance of survival. Just like that, the life she had imagined for herself had gone up in flames. By the time Jaouad flew home to New York, she had lost her job, her apartment, and her independence. She would spend much of the next four years in a hospital bed, fighting for her life and chronicling the saga in a column for The New York Times . When Jaouad finally walked out of the cancer ward--after countless rounds of chemo, a clinical trial, and a bone marrow transplant--she was, according to the doctors, cured. But as she would soon learn, a cure is not where the work of healing ends; it's where it begins. She had spent the past 1,500 days in desperate pursuit of one goal--to survive. And now that she'd done so, she realized that she had no idea how to live. How would she reenter the world and live again? How could she reclaim what had been lost? Jaouad embarked--with her new best friend, Oscar, a scruffy terrier mutt--on a 100-day, 15,000-mile road trip across the country. She set out to meet some of the strangers who had written to her during her years in the hospital: a teenage girl in Florida also recovering from cancer; a teacher in California grieving the death of her son; a death-row inmate in Texas who'd spent his own years confined to a room. What she learned on this trip is that the divide between sick and well is porous, that the vast majority of us will travel back and forth between these realms throughout our lives. Between Two Kingdoms is a profound chronicle of survivorship and a fierce, tender, and inspiring exploration of what it means to begin again.