Something More

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 28 SEPT 1998

"Passion is truth's soul mate," writes Ban Breathnach in this follow-up to her stupendously successful Simple Abundance (1995). The author who helped millions discover the overlooked richness of everyday life by practicing gratitude now appends that message by urging us to heed our yearning for "something more." Understanding that most women are better at sacrificing themselves than at discovering and honoring their own passions, Ban Breathnach urges them to see the spiritual wisdom of "reembodiment," excavating from under layers of fear and disappointment their own moments of connection with a deeper, more authentic self. Offering a collection of teaching stories drawn from her own honestly rendered experience, as well as stories and pithy quotes from her friends and a host of notables (Rumi, Virginia Woolf, Madonna et al.), Ban Breathnach nudges readers beyond "settling and stumbling and surviving." Although she aims to help readers explore the depths of their own hearts by using an "illustrated discovery journal" (a collage of images and text meant to express the tastes and strivings of readers' authentic selves), the real power of this work, despite some workaday writing and concepts, lies in the unpretentious sincerity and raw immediacy of Ban Breathnach's many variations on the assertion that "At the end of the day, or at the end of a life, all we have is ourselves and love. And if we love ourselves, truly, madly, deeply, all we have is all we need." Writing not as a guru but as a friend who has learned to cherish her past, Ban Breathnach will galvanize her wide readership to believe we were all put on earth for something more than indifferent marriages and discarded dreams. Serving up self-worth and "repose of the soul" as the most priceless of attainments, she is a friend indeed. 750,000 first printing; One Spirit Book Club main selection; first serial to Good Housekeeping; Time Warner audio; author tour.