AND NOW, BACK TO ME

A mother adjusts to an empty nest in this touching memoir of love, transformation, and self-discovery.

When her youngest child left for college, Lussier confronted an unanticipated emptiness as she adapted to a new normal. As she faced this life-altering transition, she looked back at another transformative moment in her life: learning she was pregnant with her first child (“And just like that, I was home. I was creating a home. This was where I belonged. Where we belonged”). Two kids, two marriages, and multiple career changes later, the author stood on the precipice of a new era, complete with its own challenges and difficulties, including navigating life with her husband one-on-one, adjusting to long-distance parenting, and taking care of her own aging parents. Her friends and family supported her along the way to help her through these obstacles, as did the ever-present family companion, Lizzie the black Labrador. Searching for renewed purpose, Lussier bounced between a few different career options before returning to her first passion: writing. The author’s sincerity is the narrative’s greatest strength. Lussier’s openness about her vulnerabilities—whether in adjusting to a changed marriage dynamic or wrestling with her own career identity—makes her especially relatable. She deftly balances self-reflection with moments of humor, as when she describes her husband’s thoughts on car preferences as a test for marriage compatibility. However, the book suffers from a lack of structural cohesion; chapters jump between multiple timelines and themes to create a disjointed reading experience. The author weaves reflections and advice on cultivating joy and mindfulness into each chapter, illustrated by personal stories meant to inspire—but the counsel is often too general to practically act upon, and may leave readers wanting more. Even so, Lussier’s personable storytelling and emotional candor give the text a beating heart. Readers drawn to intimate portraits of family and self-reflection will find comfort in her words, even if the structure occasionally undermines their impact.

A heartfelt memoir somewhat hampered by structural awkwardness.