Happy birthday, Cruel Summer Book Club! ✨
A year of change, heartbreak and healing
On July 19, 2019, I wrote my first post in Cruel Summer Book Club. Devastated and terrified, I pushed my solo project out into the world, introducing myself and my biggest source of shame: my crushing, universe-bending, recurring heartbreak. “But this time,” I wrote, “I don’t want to do my healing alone. I want to do it with all of you.”
And so a ritual gathering began between my battered soul and yours. Through long months of pain and hopelessness, every week I returned here to connect with you, and myself. While I struggled to concentrate at work or hold normal conversations, I pushed myself to interview people I admired and chronicled the asymmetrical paths of my grief. I reached out to each of you with a healing hand, and you held on tight, pulling me slowly, gingerly along.
So many of you messaged me to say that you connected with something I wrote; that you too had experienced grief and heartbreak; that you were grateful for the public voice I gave to my private pain, and the grueling experiences of others. Hearing from you—every single time—kept me going, and reassured me that people really do need to know that others in the world are also suffering, and overcoming.
Whether you subscribed a year or a day ago, thank you for being here. I have big plans for this newsletter that I’ll share with you soon. For now, Cruel Summer Book Club remains a place for you to feel safe, and found.
You are not alone. This too shall pass. There is more for you. Just keep going.
Highlights from Cruel Summer Book Club: Year One
Interviews
My best friend called off her wedding
Psychologist Guy Winch knows how to fix a broken heart
My grandpa was 77 when he found love again
Jayson Greene wrote a memoir after the death of his two-year-old daughter
Scarlett’s dad is in prison for two decades
Wake up and dump him, says viral sensation imdatfeminist
An abusive relationship, from a man’s perspective
Writing
This too shall pass
Summer was a real bummer
Mother!
You will be okay
Rituals
Cruel scammer
Discussions
What’s your greatest silver lining?
CSBC reading list
If something in Cruel Summer Book Club has particularly touched or helped you, I would love to hear about it. Respond in the comments or email me at cruelsummerbookclub@substack.com.
Thank you so, so much for reading CSBC. This project, and each of you, have changed me forever. I’m sending you all of my love.
Follow me on:
You are not alone!