The Crane Wife

Funny, exciting, vulnerable - truly visionary.'' Alexander CheeTen days after calling off her wedding, CJ Hauser went on an expedition to study the whooping crane. After a week wading through the gulf, she realised she had almost signed up to live somebody else''s life. In this intimate, frank and funny memoir in essays, CJ Hauser releases herself from her story of ''how life was supposed to be''. She goes looking for more honest ways of living, for new definitions of love. She kisses internet strangers, officiates a wedding, visits a fertility clinic. She rereads Rebecca in the house her new boyfriend shared with his ex-wife and rewinds Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story to ask whether you can ever have a fresh start with an old love. She writes about friends and lovers and blood family and chosen family and children and animals and ghosts and a whole planet in this book, and hopes you see all of these as love stories.The Crane Wife is a book for anyone whose life doesn''t look the way they thought it would; for anyone learning to find joy in the unexpected; for anyone trying, if sometimes failing, to build a new sort of life story, a new sort of family, a new sort of home, to live in.''I absolutely LOVED these essays. I knew I ought to ration myself to one a day in order to prolong the joy and fascination of them, but I just couldn''t: I had to carry on reading and reading, like eating a whole packet of jelly babies in one sitting. What a fantastic, original, funny and touching voice! C J Hauser is a wondrous writer. This book which will give so much happiness.'' CRESSIDA CONNOLLY, author of AFTER THE PARTY ''Compassionate and funny and brave. The book is a masterclass in life writing, and a lesson in how to live a life outside the narratives that would contain us. CJ is a master story weaver. I was left wanting more, in the best way possible.'' CHARLIE GILMOUR, author of FEATHERHOOD>

Auteur
CJ HAUSER teaches creative writing at Colgate University and lives in Hamilton, NY. They received their MFA from Brooklyn College and PhD from Florida State. They have published two novels, Family of Origin and The From-Aways. *In 2019 they published a viral essay, *The Crane Wife, in the Paris Review, about their decision to call off their wedding and go on an expedition to study the whooping crane. The essay reached over a million readers, was shared by 538 journalists from 293 different outlets all over the world, and recommended online by the likes of Roxane Gay, Busy Phillips and Caitlin Moran. The Crane Wife: A Memoir in Essays is their first work of full-length non-fiction.

Texte du rabat

'Outstanding... An elegant masterpiece... Wry but also warm and generous' Roxane Gay

'Frank, funny, enthralling... Think of it as rehab for road-weary romantics, inviting us to redefine what constitutes a love story' Observer

'Warning: you will WhatsApp multiple quotes to your friends from your sun-lounger' Independent

Ten days after calling off her wedding, CJ Hauser went on an expedition to study the whooping crane. After a week wading through the gulf, she realised she had almost signed up to live somebody else's life.

In this intimate, frank and funny memoir in essays, CJ Hauser lets go of 'how life was supposed to be' and goes looking for more honest ways of living. She kisses internet strangers, officiates a wedding, visits a fertility clinic. She reads Rebecca in the house her new boyfriend shared with his ex-wife and rewinds Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story to learn how not to lose yourself in a relationship. She writes about friends and lovers, ghosts and robots, grief and heartbreak, blood family and chosen family, and asks what more expansive definitions of love might offer us all.

The Crane Wife is a book for anyone whose life doesn't look the way they thought it would; for anyone trying, if sometimes failing, to find joy in the unexpected.

'CJ Hauser understands that there are so many different ways to love and live, and her words make all of them exciting possibilities.' Natasha Lunn, bestselling author of CONVERSATIONS ON LOVE

'Universal and exciting... *The Crane Wife* will satisfy and inspire anyone who has ever asked, 'How did I get here, and what happens now?' New York Times

'Funny, exciting, vulnerable - truly visionary' Alexander Chee

'Intimate, witty and beautifully crafted' Elle

'Intimate, wry, compassionate... a book you want to press into friends' hands' Irish Mail on Sunday