Confessions of a Worrywart: Husbands, Mothers, Lovers and Others

In her plucky new memoir, award-winning journalist Susan Orlins inspires you to embrace your worries.

With wit and grit, Orlins takes you from her starter marriage in 1965 on a rocky, comical journey to 1979, when she moves with her second husband to Beijing (where she has her own personal spy). Her effort to adopt an infant in China provides a rare portrait of an era when "eating bitterness" was a way of life.

In the chapter "I May Have Ruined the Marriage, But You're Ruining the Divorce," Orlins portrays her separation with wry, wrenching self-awareness. She rebounds with a post-traumatic-divorce party, "family" vacations with her ex, and a cast of Mr. Wrongs, like one who--whenever he feels blue--swallows a pinch of his father's ashes.

During a solo bicycle trip in Paris, Orlins tracks down a boyfriend from 42 years earlier. No one could have anticipated the crisis that occurs an hour into their reunion. With her knack for stumbling into drama, it's no wonder she worries.

More recently, while exploring what young Susan would think of her present-day self, Orlins faces a life-changing realization.

Readers will relate to this deeply personal story, told with a quirky sensibility by a startlingly honest mother, daughter, ex-wife, and dog lover, who--à la Nora Ephron--will feel like a dear friend. Confessions of a Worrywart: Husbands, Lovers, Mothers, and Others lingers long after you finish reading it.