Awake - by Jen Hatmaker (Paperback)

About the Book

"At 2:30 a.m. on July 11th, 2020, Jen Hatmaker woke up to her husband of twenty-six years whispering in his phone to another woman from their bed. It was the end of life as she knew it. In the months that followed, she went from being a shiny, funny, popular leader, to a divorced wreck on antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds parenting five kids alone with no clue about her own bank accounts. Having led millions of women for over a decade-urging them to embrace authenticity, find radical agency, and create healthy relationships-this seemed nothing less than total failure. In Awake, Jen shares for the first time what happened when she found herself completely lost at sea-and how she made it to shore. In candid, surprisingly funny vignettes spanning forty years of girlhood, marriage, and parenting, Jen lays bare the disorienting upheaval of midlife-the implosion of a marriage, the unraveling of religious and cultural systems, and the grief that accompanies change you didn't ask for. And, drawing on all her resources-from without and from within-Jen dares to question the systems beneath the whole house of cards, and to reckon with the myths, half-truths, and lies that brought her to this point. More than one woman's story, Awake is a critical analysis of the story given to all of us: the story of gender limitations, religious subservience, body shame, self-erasure. With refreshing candor, Jen explores a Midlife Renaissance-grieving what's lost, cherishing possibility, and entering the second half of life wide awake"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, OPRAH DAILY, GOODREADS, KIRKUS REVIEWS, AND MORE

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"I can't imagine any woman reading this without feeling seen, inspired, and totally empowered." --Mel Robbins, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"A MASTERPIECE, you guys. This memoir by the great Jen Hatmaker *cannot* be missed. I was riveted as if to a thriller and touched/moved/inspired in ways I can't quite articulate yet. Just please read. You'll thank me." --Elin Hilderbrand

From Jen Hatmaker--beloved New York Times bestselling author and host of the For the Love podcast--a brutally honest, funny, and revealing memoir about the traumatic end of her twenty-six-year-long marriage, and the beginning of a different kind of love story.

At 2:30 a.m. on July 11, 2020, Jen Hatmaker woke up to her husband of twenty-six years whispering into his phone to another woman from their bed. It was the end of life as she knew it. In the months that followed, she went from being a shiny, funny, popular leader to a divorced wreck on antidepressants and antianxiety meds, parenting five kids alone with no clue about the functioning of her own bank accounts. Having led millions of women for over a decade--urging them to embrace authenticity, find radical agency, and create healthy relationship--she felt like a catastrophic failure.

In Awake, Jen shares for the first time what happened when she found herself completely lost at sea--and how she made it to shore. In candid, sur-prisingly funny vignettes spanning forty years of girlhood, marriage, and parenting, Jen lays bare the disorienting upheaval of midlife--the implosion of a marriage, the unraveling of religious and cultural systems, and the grief that accompanies change you didn't ask for. And, drawing on all resources--from without and within--Jen dares to question the systems beneath the whole house of cards, and to reckon with the myths, half-truths, and lies that brought her to this point.

More than one woman's story, Awake is a critical analysis of the story given to all of us: the story of gender limitations, religious subservience, body shame, self-erasure. With refreshing candor, Jen explores a midlife renaissance--grieving what's lost, cherishing possibility, and entering the second half of life wide awake.

Review Quotes

"In this memoir about marriage, motherhood, family, friendship, and empowerment, Jen Hatmaker recounts the shock of waking up to hear her husband voice-texting his girlfriend in their marital bed. . . . The questions Hatmaker asks herself [in Awake]--what excites her, and what does she care about--will resonate with readers facing their own challenges." --Booklist, starred review

"[Awake is] honest, engaging, and enjoyable as we watch the author stepping out from the shadows and reclaiming her life." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review


"One of the most uplifting takes on reclaiming one's life we have seen. . . An affirmation of personal power, of the importance of female friendships, and our deep need for joy." --Oprah Daily

"Jen Hatmaker's story of heartbreak and her raw, real transformation will light you up in the best way. Her warmth, humor, and honesty are absolutely contagious, and I can't imagine any woman reading this without feeling seen, inspired, and totally empowered." --Mel Robbins, bestselling author of The Let Them Theory and host of The Mel Robbins Podcast

"Lucent and nervy. . .The book is a full-throated praise song to the body: its wisdom, its patience, its trustworthiness, even when society and religion say the opposite. . . . Awake, wisely, isn't set up as a survival manual. Instead, it's about living life once you've gone past the breaking point, when the scaffolding collapses because the rotten base--a faulty worldview or a crumbling belief system--was exposed." --The New York Times

"[A] dynamic and honest memoir about divorce, faith, and possibility. Through a series of poignant essays, Hatmaker explores what it means to be a woman in the midst of midlife staring down the barrel of reinvention." --Harper's Bazaar

"A gorgeous, raw, and deeply convincing memoir. This is a book for all of us who need to feel brave again. What a triumph." --Kate Bowler, New York Times bestselling author of Good Enough

"Stunningly candid. . . [Awake] reads with a rawness normally only found between lifelong friends. Hatmaker lays bare her pain as much as she does her complicity. She pulls at the threads of the religious systems that informed her upbringing and identity, allowing her heart to open toward new ways of being." --Maria Shriver's The Sunday Paper

"Awake is for anyone who's ever been told to shrink, stay quiet, or settle. Jen shows us what it means to rise anyway." --Yvette Nicole Brown, actor and host of the Squeezed podcast

"You could say Jen Hatmaker has written a book about the explosive end of a marriage. You could call Awake a book about betrayal and grief. You could describe it as a raw excavation of one courageous, spirited woman's life. But what I would call it is an act of reclamation, a powerful howl of honesty that will open the eyes and hearts of every single woman who sees herself in its pages, which is to say, all of us. This book is the best kind of medicine." --Dani Shapiro, New York Times bestselling author of Inheritance

"One of the best books I've ever read. You begin the book rooting for Jen, and by the end you're rooting for yourself." --Jamie Kern Lima, New York Times bestselling author of Worthy and host of The Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast

"While we love Jen Hatmaker for the deep belly laughs and on-demand wisdom, in Awake she gives us something more powerful still: a meditation on betrayal. She gives voice to one of its most profound revelations, that the roadmap to recovery requires contending not only with the lies we've been told by others, but the lies we've told to ourselves. Hatmaker is erudite, hilarious, warm, and fearlessly self-aware on every page--and I didn't want this book to end." --Elise Loehnen, New York Times bestselling author of On Our Best Behavior

"We are contextual beings. We absorb the messages and norms of our earliest environments and that tells us what to expect and endure. Jen Hatmaker is yanking down the veil here, generously sharing the most intimate story she has to offer while also asking bigger questions about what a girl, and the woman she becomes, is allowed to be in this culture. This is a gift." --Kelly Corrigan, New York Times bestselling author of Tell Me More and host of the Kelly Corrigan Wonders podcast

"Reading Awake is like being offered a lifeline when you've drifted too far out to sea--it's warm, witty, wise, and wide awake to what matters most. Jen Hatmaker is proof that we can change our own stories." --Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone and Ask the Therapist columnist

"Awake is Jen Hatmaker at her rawest and most courageous. This memoir isn't just a story; it's a lifeline for anyone navigating life's hardest chapters. With unflinching honesty and signature wit, Jen shows how to rebuild when life falls apart--stronger, more authentic, and beautifully awake. This book doesn't just speak to your heart; it revives it." --Jenna Kutcher, bestselling author of How Are You, Really and host of The Goal Digger Podcast

"Awake is as profoundly kind as it is honest. By chronicling her own story of awakening and coming home to herself, Jen Hatmaker does what all our best teachers do: she clears a path for us to find our own awakening. This is a mature book, a hard-won story, and it's glorious." --Sarah Bessey, international bestselling author of Field Notes for the Wilderness

"Wow. What Jen has done here is stunning, not just in its bravery but also in its wisdom and generosity. The trick of memoir is to write something deeply specific and personal--set in one place, one house, one body--that becomes somehow so much more than that: something for all of us. I knew the plot of this story because I walked alongside her through the events of it, but what she offers us in this book is so much more than plot. It's a lifeline, an open door, a vision for a new way to be a woman in our world." --Shauna Niequist, New York Times bestselling author of I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet

"Sometimes the worst thing has to happen to us to move us toward the best thing. Jen Hatmaker walked through unbearable pain, heightened by public scrutiny, and brought herself, her children, and her friends through to a new life. And she did it with humor, brutal honesty, and a strength we can all learn from. This life isn't perfect, but if you're able to stay present in the toughest moments, the beautiful thing you find on the other side is your true, authentic self. It is brave of Jen to tell her story, flaws and all. I'm so glad she shared it with us." --Trisha Yearwood, Grammy-winning singer

"For all of the women who gave their teenager years to purity culture only to feel alone in adulthood, who pretended their marriages were perfect and their sacrificial silence was holy, Awake is the missing piece they've been waiting for." --Laura Tremaine, author of The Life Council and host of the 10 Things to Tell You podcast

"The message of Awake resonates on the deepest levels--as we boldly release what doesn't serve us and step into what we deserve. Everyone needs this book as a roadmap to joy." --Nicole Walters, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing Is Missing

"A treasure. Readers are not ready for all the ways this will be a hand at their back gently guiding them to the other side of themselves. I will never get over this reading experience." --Jamie Golden, host of the podcasts The Popcast with Knox and Jamie and Faith Adjacent

About the Author

Jen Hatmaker is the author of fourteen books, including four New York Times bestsellers, and the host of the award-winning podcast For the Love. She is an author, podcaster, speaker, advocate, educator, mother, and a textbook Enneagram 3.