The Lois Wilson Story: When Love is Not Enough: The Authorized Biography of the Cofounder of Al-Anon

A long-awaited look at the unsung story of Lois Wilson, wife of the famously anonymous Bill W.

Acclaimed author and screenwriter William G. Borchert does a masterful job in revealing the life and times of this spirited and determined woman, exploring the tender emotional territory beyond Lois’s role in the formation of AA and the subsequent creation of Al-Anon. From her privileged childhood in turn-of-the-century New York City, to her unexpected but exhilarating courtship with the dashing Bill Wilson, to her socialite status as a "Wall Street Wife" in the Roaring Twenties, to the couple’s audacious cross-country motorcycle excursions in the 1930s, Lois was every bit the adventure-seeker her legendary husband was. But nothing could have prepared her for the chaos, pain, and loss caused by her beloved Bill’s seventeen-year descent into the depths of alcoholism. In the end, however, her husband’s addiction proved not to be the tragic undoing of this brilliant, promising couple, but rather the beginning of one of the twentieth century’s most important social movements.

Features a 16-page section of black-and-white archival photographs.