First published 2023
Rosemary Sullivan has spent her career as a poet, writer, and traveler pursuing one goal: to meet the world in all its complexity. This collection gathers twenty-one essays from five decades of journeys across multiple continents. Sullivan ventures solo behind the Iron Curtain, discovers reclusive writer Elizabeth Smart in a crumbling English cottage, and examines how Chilean society reacted to Pinochet's rise to power. She tracks down people who knew Svetlana Alliluyeva while researching Stalin's Daughter. Each essay reveals Sullivan's instinct for finding stories in unexpected places and her commitment to listening to individual voices rather than accepting broad theories. The book documents her quest to celebrate the world's richness while confronting its darkness, showing how understanding emerges through personal encounters rather than distant observation.
Genres: essays, literary-fiction, non-fiction, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-journey, social-commentary
Setting: Chile, England, Iron Curtain
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
304 pages · Paperback · Goose Lane Editions