Best Seller
How to Be Wretched
Hardcover
$30.00
Available on Apr 13, 2027 | 368 Pages
The powerful and redemptive story of a woman’s journey to understand her profound grief and the science that helped her to overcome it
During her late teens and twenties, Jillian Dunham lost everyone in her immediate family: her grandfather, both grandmothers, her father, and her mother, to whom she was closest. She tried to process these losses, but rather than “moving on,” Dunham found herself mired in feelings that she could neither control nor escape.
Once she realized that traditional approaches weren’t helping, Dunham turned to her skills as a journalist. She began to explore what scientists are learning about deep grief and what is now called “prolonged grief disorder”—grief that persists for more than a year. She learned how grief rewires our brains, how it changes the hormones in our bodies, and even the way our immune system functions. These insights prompted her to see her own grief differently and to seek a new way forward.
How to Be Wretched is the story of one woman’s transformative struggle to move beyond her own debilitating grief. Combining memoir and reportage and drawing from a wide range of sources—from the writings of Seneca to cutting-edge neuroscience—it is both an eye-opening journey and a compelling story.
During her late teens and twenties, Jillian Dunham lost everyone in her immediate family: her grandfather, both grandmothers, her father, and her mother, to whom she was closest. She tried to process these losses, but rather than “moving on,” Dunham found herself mired in feelings that she could neither control nor escape.
Once she realized that traditional approaches weren’t helping, Dunham turned to her skills as a journalist. She began to explore what scientists are learning about deep grief and what is now called “prolonged grief disorder”—grief that persists for more than a year. She learned how grief rewires our brains, how it changes the hormones in our bodies, and even the way our immune system functions. These insights prompted her to see her own grief differently and to seek a new way forward.
How to Be Wretched is the story of one woman’s transformative struggle to move beyond her own debilitating grief. Combining memoir and reportage and drawing from a wide range of sources—from the writings of Seneca to cutting-edge neuroscience—it is both an eye-opening journey and a compelling story.
Author
Jillian Dunham
Jillian Dunham is a journalist and editor. She spent more than a decade at The New York Times Magazine, first as a fact-checker and later as an editor. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Longreads, The Cut, and elsewhere. She lives in New York City with her family.
Learn More about Jillian Dunham
