Enchantment : reawakening wonder in an anxious age /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"When I tell you that I dogeared almost every page in this book, I'm telling God's honest truth. I didn't know how much I needed someone else to validate what I was going through. The sense that I had lost my curiosity, my imagination, my ability to make meaning." - NPR Morning Edition host Rachel Martin

"Such a teacher for every single person who is trying to live closer to who they were born to be and not who the world tamed them to be." - New York Times bestselling author Glennon Doyle on We Can Do Hard Things

"I love Katherine May's new book, Enchantment ....It's a beautiful offering of light, truth and charm in these strange, dark times." - New York Times bestselling author Anne Lamott

"Katherine May gave so many of us language and vision for the long communal 'wintering' of the last years. Welcome this beautiful meditation for the time we've now entered. I cannot imagine a more gracious companion. This book is a gift." - New York Times bestselling author Krista Tippett

"Gentle inspiration for those who feel exhausted or helpless... May shows how paying deliberate attention to what's around us can surprise us with insights and reveal new connections that deepen our appreciation for the world." - Washington Post

From the New York Times -bestselling author of Wintering , an invitation to rediscover the feelings of awe and wonder available to us all

Many of us feel trapped in a grind of constant change: rolling news cycles, the chatter of social media, our families split along partisan lines. We feel fearful and tired, on edge in our bodies, not quite knowing what has us perpetually depleted. For Katherine May, this low hum of fatigue and anxiety made her wonder what she was missing. Could there be a different way to relate to the world, one that would allow her to feel more rested and at ease, even as seismic changes unfold on the planet? Might there be a way for all of us to move through life with curiosity and tenderness, sensitized to the subtle magic all around?

In Enchantment , May invites the reader to come with her on a journey to reawaken our innate sense of wonder and awe. With humor, candor, and warmth, she shares stories of her own struggles with work, family, and the aftereffects of pandemic, particularly feelings of overwhelm as the world rushes to reopen. Craving a different way to live, May begins to explore the restorative properties of the natural world, moving through the elements of earth, water, fire, and air and identifying the quiet traces of magic that can be found only when we look for them. Through deliberate attention and ritual, she unearths the potency and nourishment that come from quiet reconnection with our immediate environment. Blending lyricism and storytelling, sensitivity and empathy, Enchantment invites each of us to open the door to human experience in all its sensual complexity, and to find the beauty waiting for us there.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Earth
• Lately (3)
• Stone (15)
• Hierophany (28)
• Take Off Your Shoes (40)
• Water
• Unlearning (57)
• The Tides (70)
• Pilgrimage (83)
• Congregation (94)
• Fire
• The Night the Stars Fell (113)
• Burning Books (122)
• Deep flay (130)
• The Flames (147)
• Air
• In Flight (157)
• Glories (164)
• Keeping (175)
• The Seed of All That Exists (189)
• Epilogue: Aether (199)
• Acknowledgments (211)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

After two years of COVID-19 restrictions, May, author of the best-selling Wintering (2020), seeks a return of enchantment and meaning. She finds she's unable to concentrate. She feels adrift and disconnected from those around her. Turning to the traditional four elements--earth, water, fire and air--May looks for ways to reconnect with the natural world and find a sense of community in her daily life. Holding smooth stones in her hand, she draws the feeling of solidity and heft from the earth. While swimming in the ocean, she feels at one with the water and her fellow swimmers. Burned out and unable to focus long enough to read after months of stress and caution, May ponders the power of fire to spark renewal. And finally the author looks to the air and sky to find meaning in the stars. It's by returning to her roots in England's countryside and searching for enchantment in the everyday that May finally finds healing. Beautifully written and profoundly reasoned, this introspective search for meaning will appeal to readers seeking wholeness and community.

Kirkus Book Review

A journey to reawaken the wonder and awe within us all. When May, the author of Wintering and The Electricity of Every Living Thing, realized her feeling of extreme exhaustion and isolation in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic wasn't disappearing anytime soon, she set out to uncover the sense of awe she remembered accessing so readily as a child. At the heart of this memoir are the author's often rocky attempts to figure out enchantment, which she defines as "small wonder magnified through meaning, fascination caught in the web of fable and memory." Each section of the book--"Earth," "Water," "Fire," and "Air"--brings the author closer to that sense of wonder. May chronicles her experiences swimming in the ocean, beekeeping, and watching meteor showers, among other quotidian joys. Featuring lyrical writing and clear open-mindedness, the narrative will speak to anyone feeling lonely in the modern world. May shows us that enchantment is present all around us--in our shared cultural histories, the names of wildflowers, and natural phenomena--if we only allow ourselves to look. However, "if we wait passively to become enchanted, we could wait a long time." The active pursuit of wonder does not demand extreme, specialized circumstances but rather the ability to look at the world with an open heart and mind. Simple knowledge can provide its own kind of wonder as well. "You do not need to walk in the wilderness to make contact with the wild," writes the author. "If you know your stories--if you understand the mythologies of your land--then you can leap from a sunlit stroll with your dog into the ancient, chthonic wood." This book will appeal to fans of Ross Gay's two collections of essays, Inciting Joy and The Book of Delights. May's pursuit of enchantment will resonate with anyone feeling burned out or disconnected. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Katherine May is the New York Times -bestselling author of Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times , which has been translated into twenty-five languages around the world. Her journalism and essays have appeared in a range of publications including The New York Times , The Times of London, Good Housekeeping , and Cosmopolitan. She lives by the sea in Whitstable, England.