The Lessons of Love: Rediscovering Our Passion for Life When It All Seems Too Hard to Take (Walker Large Print Books) - Softcover

Melody BEeattie, one of the seminal figures in the recovery movement, is the author of the international bestseller Codependent No More. She is an expert on codependency, and lectures worldwide.

This is a book about what trendy therapist types like to call "grief work." It's the story of how Beattie, the most popular writer on the controversial new-psychotherapy phenomenon, codependency, got through the experience of her 12-year-old son's fatal skiing accident and its aftermath. Like so many others who've endured the loss of a loved one, she drifted and obsessed, became a trial for her friends to be with and a prey for hucksters taking advantage of her distraction. She got through it all by reconnecting with her capacity to love--much needed because her daughter, drinking and drugging, was in the throes of midteen meltdown. That she's led a generally more melodramatic life than many certainly helps her account sustain reader interest. Those going through similar crises will find companionship and perhaps even solace in her report. Ray Olson