Unraveled, Maria Housden
Unraveled, Maria Housden
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Unraveled
The True Story of a Woman Who Dared to Become a Different Kind of Mother

Author: Maria Housden

Narrator: Maria Housden

Abridged: 4 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/07/2005

Synopsis

As a twelve-year-old girl, Maria Housden’s vision of a happy future included everything that society expects girls to yearn for: a home, a husband, and, of course, children. Life had other plans.

Unraveled is Housden’s riveting and thoughtful story of how, after the death of her young daughter, she found the courage to break away from her role as a wife and stay-at-home mom and strike out on her own in search of a more fulfilling life. Leaving her three surviving children in the primary custody of her husband, Housden faced down the disbelief of friends and family and began a journey that would ultimately lead her not only to the truth about herself, but also to a deeper and more loving connection with her children.

Housden writes about the emotional reckoning that led to her decision and the ways in which she has become the best mother she can be while no longer living with her children full-time. With fierce honesty and the same gift for poignantly beautiful writing that she demonstrated in the bestselling Hannah’s Gift, Housden makes a valuable contribution to our collective conversation about mothering, marriage, and the assumptions we make about the way life is supposed to be. Unraveled is the remarkable story of one woman’s choice not to live every girl’s dream . . . and instead to find her own.

About The Author

<font face="Verdana" size="3" color="#000000">Maria Housden is an author and lecturer. Her first book, Hannah’s Gift: Lessons from a Life Fully Lived, has become an inter-national bestseller, translated into more than fifteen foreign languages.

Reviews

Goodreads review by K on May 13, 2007

A book club friend lent this to me. It's interesting, but pretty heavy. I see that I was right for rejecting her first book, "Hannah's Gift," as too potentially depressing. Even the brief passages describing Hannah's death in this book started me sobbing; I certainly couldn't have read an entire boo......more

Goodreads review by Mary on June 29, 2010

I had a hard time not judging her. This book was like Eat Pray Love but with children. I can’t imagine the pain of losing a child or how that would change my marriage. What she did was not the norm but it worked for her and her family. I can get the self exploration and looking at life different aft......more

Goodreads review by Audrey on April 08, 2008

I flew through this book, read 2/3 of it on flight from Paris to Dulles. I came across this book because I have read several of the author's now 2nd ex-husband's poetry collection and commentaries. Roger Housden brings so mych flavor to the poems, and he mentions Maria Housden (Unraveled author) in......more

Goodreads review by Nicolas on January 11, 2009

Okay, this book almost needs to be read in tandem with her earlier "Hannah's Gift" about the brief life of her daughter who died as a toddler. After the death of her daughter, the author's marriage begins to fall apart. So, she takes a retreat where she meets a man who becomes her second husband. Th......more

Goodreads review by Sonya on March 06, 2009

Another memoir touted as one thing, but really about something else. This isn't truly a parenting memoir or about being a different kind of mother. It's about finding her identity as a person outside of motherhood, which Housden seems half reconciled to. Her first book, which I haven't read, is abou......more

Quotes

“Maria Housden gives the rest of us permission to live lives of truth. Unraveled once again proves that hers is a voice to be reckoned with. She brilliantly and with subtle lyricism negotiates the shoals of love and loss, but it’s more than that. . . . Housden consistently leaves her readers wiser, less alone, and cradling a palpable sense of the very good possibility of triumph.” —Suzanne Finnamore, author of Otherwise Engaged and The Zygote Chronicles

“Maria Housden probes the rewarding/maddening underside of what it means to be a wife and mother. In her brave quest for self-fulfillment, she empowers others to challenge expectations. Her gentle wisdom is a gift to us all.” —Suzy Farbman, author of Back from Betrayal

“Learning to live without knowing, accepting uncertainty and yet following the heart’s yearning and wisdom. These are the lessons Maria Housden so elegantly shares in this deeply personal recounting of her life. Her words have made me a better woman.” —Arielle Ford, author of Hot Chocolate for the Mystical Lover

“Unraveled does for mothers everywhere what M. Scott Peck did for truth seekers in The Road Less Traveled. Absolutely brilliant.” —Mark Matousek, author of Sex Death Enlightenment and The Boy He Left Behind

“Housden has taken all of her pain and accepted its place and purpose in her life, and now shares her inspiration with the world. If you are a mother struggling to know who you are, this book will inspire you to your core.” —Tara Paterson, founder of JustForMom.com

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