New Life, No Instructions: A Memoir

"Brimming with insights and wisdom . . . As far as I'm concerned, Caldwell can write about whatever she pleases. . . . Unabashed dispatches from lifelong single women are a fairly recent phenomenon. Caldwell has so much more to teach us."--Kate Bolick, The New York Times Book Review

"Gail Caldwell offers the kind of wisdom and grace you'd wish a friend, sister, or mother might deliver. . . . Fans and new readers alike will find comfort in Caldwell's voice."--The Boston Globe

"Quiet but powerful . . . an absorbing meditation on grief and rebirth in midlife."--More

"Eloquent and uplifting . . . [a story] to inspire you."--Good Housekeeping

"Graceful and reflective."--USA Today

"[Caldwell] confronts, with pluck and fortitude, the hurdles that life throws her way."--Publishers Weekly

"An uplifting journey . . . This book celebrates finding support where you least expect it."--Woman's Day

"[A] beautifully written memoir."--Parade

"[A] thoughtful, wide-eyed view of the world . . . [Caldwell] ably explores the shifts of our hearts."--Kirkus Reviews

"Getting old, as they say, is not for sissies, and no one would call Pulitzer Prize-winner Caldwell a wimp. . . . There may not have been a road map for the life-changing trip [she] was about to take, but . . . Caldwell realized she had the power to endure."--Booklist

"New Life, No Instructions shows us how a lot of little things . . . add up to something much more significant: a new life, embarked upon and embraced."--BookPage

"New Life, No Instructions is beautifully written, lucid, and wise. We come of age again and again during the course of our lives, and need those who have traveled the path before us to shine a light, to lend a hand. Caldwell's story is moving and gripping. I found myself feeling that I had indeed been given a valuable set of instructions for how to proceed with eyes and heart wide open."--Dani Shapiro, author of Devotion and Slow Motion

"In Gail Caldwell's New Life, No Instructions we see a Pultizer Prize winner once again go out and earn the title. It is a meditation on how seemingly faint winds can blow us wildly off course; on how spending time with a beloved animal can benefit our basic humanity; and on what it means to overcome, at middle age, a multitude of blows. It is lyrical and smart and triumphant and you won't read a more honest memoir in your life."--Darin Strauss, author of Chang and Eng and Half a Life

From the Hardcover edition.

Gail Caldwell, the former chief book critic of The Boston Globe, received the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism in 2001. She is the author of two previous books:A Strong West Wind and Let’s Take the Long Way Home. A New York Times bestseller,Let’s Take the Long Way Home was the winner of the New England Independent Booksellers Association award for nonfiction. Caldwell lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.