by Jen Hatmaker
First published 2025
Jen Hatmaker wakes at 2:30 a.m. on July 11, 2020, to find her husband Brandon whispering to another woman from their bed. After twenty-six years of marriage, her world collapses overnight. The bestselling author and podcast host who once guided millions of women toward authenticity now faces her own crisis. She becomes a divorced single mother of five, struggling with antidepressants and anxiety medication while learning to navigate bank accounts for the first time. The woman who preached healthy relationships confronts what feels like complete failure. Hatmaker chronicles her journey from that devastating night through the messy aftermath of divorce. She examines four decades of her life, from girlhood through marriage and motherhood, revealing how religious and cultural systems shaped her choices. As she pieces together her new reality, she questions the myths and half-truths that led to this moment. This memoir tracks her path from being lost at sea to finding solid ground again, discovering a different kind of love story in the process.
Genres: autobiography, memoir, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, divorce, family-drama, christian-living
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, second-chance
Period: 2020
304 pages · Hardcover · Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Content warnings: depression, mental-illness