The Order of Things

A Memoir About Chasing Joy

De: Sarah Gormley

Narrado por: Nancy Benincasa

Sometimes nothing is more unexpected than joy.

What happens when a marketing executive leaves San Francisco to care for her dying mother on their family farm in Ohio? A Hallmark heroine would fall in love with her high school sweetheart during a snowstorm—but this is no Hallmark movie. Sarah Gormley spent most of her life trying to outrun the persistent self-loathing that plagued her from childhood, convinced that self-worth was something she had to earn by doing rather than being. When she returned to Salt Creek Farm at age forty-five, Gormley had no idea that detaching from the success she believed defined her, untangling the complicated relationship with her mother, and continuing the hard work of therapy would lead to a wildly transformed life. Told with exceptional candor and humor, The Order of Things is a story about how one woman learned to let go of the patterns of her past to create a future she never imagined.

©2024 Sarah Gormley (P)2024 Sarah Gormley

Laughter, Tears and Self Reflection

Sarah is an incredible story teller who makes you feel her words, not just listen to another book. I was in her parent’s kitchen, in that pickup truck, in that diner (I gasped when she “walked out” but I definitely related). In the 5+ hours I spent listening to The Order of Things, I was mentally unpacking 50+ years of my own life in the background. There were so many tears, many laced with laughter, some flat out sobbing, but all welcome. Her story runs the gamut, it is heartwarming, heartbreaking and funny. It was relatable in its similarities as well as the differences to my own. Often I read to escape. The Order of Things was not that kind of book for me; it was real, so very real. I grew, I regressed, I self-analyzed, I thought of things I had long since buried, then I let them go. This was the book I needed to read.