THE BOOK OF HELP
By Megan Griswold
Rodale, January 22, 2019
The Book of Help traces one woman’s life-long quest for love, connection, and peace of mind. A heartbreakingly vulnerable and tragically funny memoir-in-remedies, Megan Griswold’s narrative spans four decades and six continents –– from the glaciers of Patagonia and the psycho-tropics of Brazil, to academia, the Ivy League, and the study of Eastern medicine.
Megan was born into a family who enthusiastically embraced the offerings of New Age California culture –– at seven she asked Santa for her first mantra and by twelve she was taking weekend workshops on personal growth. But later, when her newly-wedded husband calls in the middle of the night to say he’s landed in jail, Megan must accept that her many certificates, degrees and licenses had not been the finish line she’d once imagined them to be, but instead the preliminary training for what would prove to be the wildest, most growth-insisting journey of her life.
Selected Praise
“Megan Griswold’s fantastic memoir is part-medicine for our time, part-balm for our collective wounds, part-instruction manual. Unexpectedly hilarious, self-deprecating, moving, and a story for all women in this time, I couldn’t put it down. I read it aloud to my fiancé, to our daughter, to my friends. It’s the book that makes you jog the elbow of the person sitting next to you and say, ‘You’ve GOT to read this.’ You’ve got to read this. Megan is in touch with where the rest of us may have limped off course.”
― Alexandra Fuller, author of Leaving Before the Rains Come
About the Author
Megan Griswold went to Barnard College, received an MA from Yale, and went on to earn a licentiate degree from the Institute of Taoist Education and Acupuncture. She has trained and received certifications as a doula, shiatsu practitioner, yoga instructor, personal trainer, and in wilderness medicine, among others. She has worked as a mountain instructor, a Classical Five Element acupuncturist, a freelance reporter, an NPR All Things Considered commentator and an off-the grid interior designer. She resides (mostly) in a yurt in Kelly, Wyoming.