by Susan Cain
First published 2022
Susan Cain examines the overlooked power of bittersweet emotions in human experience. Following her bestselling work on introversion, Cain combines research, personal stories, and memoir to investigate why people feel sorrow and longing. She argues that bittersweetness involves acute awareness of time's passage and piercing joy when encountering beauty. This emotional state recognizes that light and darkness remain forever connected. Cain demonstrates how bittersweet feelings help people move beyond personal and shared suffering. She warns that ignoring our sorrows can lead to harming others through abuse or neglect. When people acknowledge that all humans face loss, they can redirect pain into creativity and deeper bonds with others. The book draws from artistic traditions and recent scientific research to show how this quiet emotional force enables transcendence and healing.
Genres: psychology, self-help, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: memoir, personal-stories
293 pages · Hardcover · Crown