From Kate Bowler – multiple New York Times-bestselling author, professor, stage-four cancer survivor and host of the hit podcast Everything Happens – comes a warm, relatable guide to discovering joy, even when life feels impossible.

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

New York Times bestselling author and Duke University professor Kate Bowler offers a profound, funny and deeply human case for joy that doesn’t depend on everything getting better.

‘Bowler interrogates the idea of a meaningful life, not just for ourselves but for others, too. I value her work so much’ PANDORA SYKES
'A delight from start to finish, Joyful, Anyway embodies the mix of pleasure and aching that makes us human' KATHERINE MAY, AUTHOR OF WINTERING
'Joyful, Anyway is colourful and layered, unafraid of the occasional gut-punch of raw feeling and vulnerability - much like Kate Bowler herself' JERRY SEINFELD
'A deeply moving everyday masterpiece. I loved it' ELIZABETH GILBERT, AUTHOR OF EAT, PRAY, LOVE

You can't always be happy, but you can be joyful, anyway.

After surviving a stage-four cancer diagnosis, Kate Bowler knew she was supposed to be grateful. Alive. Blessed. But she still ached – for more connection, more surprise, less resentment on an ordinary day. So she went looking for joy. Not the toxic positivity kind. Not a five-step plan. But the type that sneaks in unexpectedly, seemingly out of nowhere.

In Joyful, Anyway, Bowler takes us on a hilarious and tender journey through big questions and small delights. With wry wit and deep honesty, she explores how joy can surprise us even in the middle of pain, boredom and longing.

This is not a book about fixing your life. It is about how we can all find more and feel more, by making room for small extraordinary moments. For anyone who has ever felt stuck, who is aching for meaning, who feels undone by loss, who feels that joy is just out of reach, who wants, simply, to have more fun, Joyful, Anyway is a delicious, insightful tour through the questions that sit in the deepest part of our souls. It proves that for every time we ask: Is this it? Joy will answer: there is more.

Details

ISBN13: 9781037202575
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 288
Edition:
Publication Date:
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publication City, Country: United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 23.2(H)x15(L)x2.4(W)356
Weight (gm): 356

Author Biography

Kate Bowler is the New York Times bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I've Loved), among other books. Her TED talk on the topic has over 9 million views to date. She hosts the popular podcast ‘Everything Happens’ and has previously appeared on NPR, Today, the New York Times, Washington Post and Time. Bowler is an Associate Professor of the History of Christianity in North America at Duke Divinity School. She lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her husband, Toban, and son, Zach.

Reviews

With luminous clarity and unsentimental grace, Kate Bowler delivers a meditation on the sacred, vivid, heartbreaking absurdity of being alive -- ELIZABETH GILBERT, author of Eat, Pray, Love
If it feels like joy is missing from your life, drop what you’re doing and read this book. Kate Bowler's wisdom is perfectly timed for our tumultuous times -- ADAM GRANT, #1 New York Times bestselling author
A delight from start to finish, Joyful, Anyway embodies the mix of pleasure and aching that makes us human. A book to take you through life’s aftermaths -- KATHERINE MAY, author of Wintering
Bowler interrogates the idea of a meaningful life, not just for ourselves but for others, too. I value her work so much -- PANDORA SYKES, author of How Do We Know We're Doing It Right?
A profoundly wise, hilarious, large-hearted and down-to-earth meditation on the fundamental unsolvability of being human – and how it's in the very middle of the mess that joy is waiting to be found. I know I'll be returning to this book again and again -- OLIVER BURKEMAN, author of Four Thousand Weeks
Bowler’s richest and wisest book yet, and if possible, the most charming. Absolutely lovely. It changed me -- ANNE LAMOTT, author of Bird by Bird
Joyful, Anyway is colourful and layered, unafraid of the occasional gut-punch of raw feeling and vulnerability – much like Kate Bowler herself. She suffers no fools, especially the toxic optimists. With her signature mix of tenderness and ache, Bowler lingers comfortably in the strange terrain where joy and pain don’t alternate, but constantly intertwine -- JERRY SEINFELD