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  • Published: 7 April 2022
  • ISBN: 9780241980491
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 384

Bittersweet

How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole




From the author of the megaselling phenomenon QUIET, the no. 1 NYT bestseller on how to turn sorrow into beauty - and even joy

Whether you long for the partner who broke up with you, or the one you dream of meeting; whether you hunger for the happy childhood you'll never have, or for the divine; whether you yearn for a lost person, an unborn child, the fountain of youth, or unconditional love: These are all manifestations of the same great ache...

In this inspiring masterpiece, Susan Cain - author of the international bestseller Quiet - shows us the power of a "bittersweet" outlook: the dramatically overlooked tendency to states of longing and poignancy, and a curiously piercing joy at the beauty of the world. Embracing the bittersweet means understanding that light and dark, birth and death - bitter and sweet - are forever paired, and that only by recognising this can we be fully whole.

Bringing to light the ideas of artists, writers and thinkers from all over the world, and her own quest for answers over the course of a lifetime, Susan Cain shifts our understanding of the world by teaching us how to transform pain and sorrow into creativity and love - and therefore how to turn our sadness into an enriching superpower.

  • Published: 7 April 2022
  • ISBN: 9780241980491
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 384

About the author

Susan Cain

Susan Cain is a writer who specializes in psychological non-fiction. She has a blog on psychology today.com, and her New York Times article on the evolutionary benefits of shyness was the most emailed article in the paper when published. She previously worked in corporate law for seven years, representing clients such as J. P. Morgan and General Electric, and then became a negotiations consultant with clients including Merrill Lynch and Shearman & Sterling. Susan Cain graduated with honors from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. She lives on the Hudson River, New York, with her husband and two sons.

www.thepowerofintroverts.com

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Praise for Bittersweet

I'll place Bittersweet in the hands of all my feely, achy, beautiful friends

Glennon Doyle, author of #1 NYT bestseller Untamed

Susan Cain's Bittersweet grabs you by the heart and doesn't let go

Brené Brown, author of the NYT bestseller Atlas of the Heart

This is the rare book that doesn't just open your eyes - it touches your heart and sings to your soul

Adam Grant, #1 NYT bestselling author of Think Again

This book is an absolute triumph: it's for anyone who has ever really lived, loved, or lost

Greg McKeown, author of NYT bestsellers Effortless and Essentialism

An amazing and profound book . . . every single person should read it

Johann Hari, bestselling author of Stolen Focus

I can't get Quiet out of my head. It is an important book - so persuasive and timely and heartfelt it should inevitably effect change in schools and offices

Jon Ronson on 'Quiet'