Walking on Eggshells (Reprint) (Paperback) by Jane Isay

About the Book

Renowned editor Isay delivers real-life wisdom and advice on how adult children and their parents can stay together without falling apart. Warmth and wit shine through on every page as she charts this often confusing, and at times painful, relationship.

Book Synopsis

We raise our children to be independent and lead fulfilling lives, but when they finally do, staying close becomes more complicated than ever. And for every bewildered mother who wonders why her children don't call, there is a frustrated son or daughter who just wants to be treated like a grownup. Now, renowned editor Jane Isay delivers the perfect gift to both parents and their adult children--real-life wisdom and advice on how to stay together without falling apart.

Using extensive interviews with people from ages twenty-five to seventy, Isay shows that we're far from alone in our struggles to make this new, adult relationship work. She offers up groundbreaking insights and deeply moving stories that will inspire those in even the toughest situations. Isay's warmth and wit shine through on every page as she charts an invaluable course through the confusing, and often painful, interactions parents and children can face. Walking on Eggshells is the much-needed road map that will keep you connected to the people you love most.

Review Quotes

Jane Isay gives us a hope chest of hard-earned wisdom and aha moments, and a mirror in which we can safely examine ourselves and our families. --Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls

"From her own loving heart and from richly revealing interviews with parents and adult children, Jane Isay has fashioned a wonderfully wise and constructive intergenerational guide. Read it and learn!"
--Judith Viorst, author of I'm Too Young to Be Seventy and Other Delusions

"A gently told, achingly honest book about the search for love and acceptance that aging parents and their adult children bring to each other and the tragic misunderstandings that get in their way and break their hearts."
--Judith S. Wallerstein, Ph.D., author of What About the Kids? Raising Children Before, During, and After Divorce


"Jane Isay's warm, intelligent, reassuring voice shines through her illuminating stories about the delicate, lifelong bond between parents and their grown children. Anyone who has ever been in a parent-child kafuffle about rules, traditions, money, control, or anything else will find wisdom and encouragement in this lovely book. "
--Carol Tavris, Ph.D., coauthor of Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)

The brilliance of Walking on Eggshells lies in Isay's uncanny ability to keep our love and good intentions in focus so that we all-- parents and adult children--can untangle the unhealthy knots in our relationships before they cause harm.
--Ira Byock, M.D., author of Dying Well

"With Isay's sage advice, we can make life with our adult children calmer, closer and more enjoyable. This is a great read for every parent who has ever, in discussing their adult children, used the phrase 'walking on eggshells.' "
--Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia

About The Author

Jane Isay has been an editor for over forty years. She discovered Mary Pipher's Reviving Ophelia, commissioned Patricia O'Connor's bestselling Woe Is I and Rachel Simmons' s Odd Girl Out, and edited such nonfiction classics as Praying for Sheetrock and Friday Night Lights. She's written several books of her own, including Secrets and Lies, Mom Still Likes You Best, and Walking on Eggshells. She lives in New York City, not too far from her children and grandchildren.