Between Two Kingdoms
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  • Published: 5 July 2022
  • ISBN: 9780552173124
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $24.00
Categories:

Between Two Kingdoms

What almost dying taught me about living

Formats & editions
Paperback
5 Jul 2022
EBook
11 Feb 2021
Audiobook
11 Feb 2021
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An Emmy-award winning writer's moving and inspirational memoir exploring what we can learn about life from a brush with death.

At just twenty-two, Suleika Jaouad was diagnosed with leukemia and given a 35 per cent chance of survival. For 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 had no idea how to live. And so she set out to meet some of the 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. 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. Drawing on Suleika's TED Talk, now with 4 million views, it illuminates universal questions about how we live, mourn, heal, grow up and begin again.
  • Published: 5 July 2022
  • ISBN: 9780552173124
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $24.00
Categories:

About the author

Suleika Jaouad

Suleika Jaouad is an Emmy Award-winning writer, speaker, cancer survivor and activist. She served on Barack Obama's Cancer Panel and her advocacy work, reporting and speaking has been featured at the United Nations, on Capitol Hill and on the TED Talk main stage. When she's not on the road with her 1972 Volkswagen camper van and her rescue dog Oscar, she lives in Brooklyn.

portrait photo of Suleika Jaouad

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Praise for Between Two Kingdoms

Will resonate with anyone who is living a different life than the one they had planned.

TARA WESTOVER, author of EDUCATED

A stunning debut by a powerful new voice and required reading for every kind of survivor.

Melissa Febos, author of Whip Smart, Abandon Me, & Girlhood

Changing the conversation about what it mans to thrive in the wake of illness and life's unexpected interruptions.

TED

'Inspirational' doesn't really cut it when you're talking about Suleika Jaouad.

Refinery 29

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

Suleika Jaouad's memoir is a work of breathtaking creativity and heart-stopping humanity. A story of her cancer journey on the surface, it goes beyond the clichés of "inspiration", "resilience" and "courage" into the depth of her own pain and lost years, and also the spirits of countless strangers (sick and well) whom she meets along the highway of life and illuminates with rare generosity and grace. A deeply moving and passionate work of art, it's quite unlike anything I've ever read, and will forever be imprinted upon my heart.

ELIZABETH GILBERT, author of EAT PRAY LOVE

One of 2021's most highly anticipated new books.

Newsweek

A phenomenal debut... This is a stunning memoir, well-crafted and hard to put down.

Publishers Weekly

No more doomscrolling. Read this book instead... Full of wisdom and resilience.

ADAM GRANT, author of ORIGINALS

A beautiful, elegant and heart-breaking book that provides a glimpse into the kingdom of illness.

SIDDHARTHA MUKHERJEE

Her sensory snapshots remain in my mind long after reading.

Chanel Miller, New York Times

Delivering a hopeful message when we need it the most.... A transformative read.

The Washington Post

Jaouad is writing about a process, a back and forth. In the tension between health and sickness, past and present, a new balance must be forged.

LA Times

Yes, 'Between Two Kingdoms' is a cancer memoir. It's a coming of age story. A road trip adventure. A survival story. It's also a love story, but it is not romantic love that saves Jaouad. No, it's bigger than that.... The timing of this memoir is just right. After nearly a year of living through a pandemic, we all understand isolation and grief, endurance and healing more than we did before.

Washington Post