East Winds

A Global Quest to Reckon with Marriage

By: Rachel Rueckert

Narrated by: Rachel Rueckert

"An engrossing exploration of a hard but ultimately exhilarating trek toward love and commitment.” (Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review)

Rachel panicked as she lay awake on the first night of her year-long honeymoon—a backpacking trip around the world. Though young and in love, she wasn’t sure she actually believed in marriage, let alone the lofty Mormon ideal of eternal marriage. This unconventional honeymoon felt like a brief reprieve from the crushing expectations for a Mormon bride. But this trip also offered opportunities: the chance to study wedding traditions in other cultures and the space to confront what marriage—including her own—meant to her.

Along the way, she got kicked out of Peru, escaped rabid dogs in the Amazon, stumbled upon democracy protests in Hong Kong, launched an unlucky lantern in Thailand, and trekked five hundred miles across Spain in sandals. These experiences helped Rachel confront her tumultuous past, question her inherited relationship models, and embrace her restless nature within marriage—exchanging faith in certainty for faith in the day-to-day choice of partnership and faith in herself.

East Winds is written in the tradition of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Committed, Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, and Tara Westover’s Educated. Far more than a travelogue, this sweeping coming-of-age memoir offers timeless insights into this complex, universal institution. Too many love stories end with marriage. This one starts there instead.

Advance Praise

“[A] soulful debut memoir.... Rueckert’s reminiscences present readers with an evocative travelogue and a remarkably sensitive and insightful portrait of the difficulties of modern marriage and the compromises that one makes to feel both autonomy and connection.... Rueckert’s grappling with uncertainty yields courage and a luminous sense of hope. An engrossing exploration of a hard but ultimately exhilarating trek toward love and commitment.” (Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review)

"Is it an ethnography, a travelogue, a memoir, a love story, or a true confession? Whatever its genre, it is funny, inciteful, poetic, and engaging. A delightful read!" (Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, PhD, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History)

"Trouble abounds in this brave, stirring, engaging memoir, but the protagonist proves equal to every bit of it, thanks to her self-awareness and pluck. A travel account that takes us deep into the author's inner life and spiritual struggles while delivering vividly detailed accounts of the lands she explores, this satisfying record of the growth of a self should please readers of every type. It certainly pleased me." (Phillip Lopate, PhD, American essayist and editor of The Art of the Personal Essay)

"Thoroughly smart and clear-eyed. East Winds invites the reader to question their assumptions. Rueckert asks unique questions that resonate on a universal level." (Gary Shteyngart, author of Little Failure)

"Rueckert is a writer to watch. In lovely, candid prose, she shares intimate insights about partnership and the connections that exist because of it. I could not put it down." (Wendy S. Walters, PhD, Nonfiction Concentration Director at Columbia University and author of Multiply/Divide)

"The writing is filled with funny, shivery, illuminated moments. East Winds brims with intelligence. " (Michael Greenberg, author of Hurry Down Sunshine)

©2022 Rachel Rueckert (P)2022 Rachel Rueckert

Beautiful memoir, amazing narration

Instantly transported to faraway lands, the narrator kept me hooked, book sticks with you for days later. You can feel the struggle and pains as the author grapples with marriage and past experiences but learns so much through this journey.

More Women Need to ‘Reckon’ With Marriage

The halmark of a great memoir is to make the reader feel like it was written about their own life. As a white, Mormon woman growing up in Utah there is so much to this story that resonated deeply with my own experience but any reader can enter the authors world identify relatable truths. Rueckert highlights poignant aspects of our culture and juxtaposes it within the broader story of cultures from around the world. The perspective helped me appreciate and own my story. I hope to see more woman reckoning with marriage, not as a critique on the institution but as a reflective practice that can help in preparing for marriage and in building a marriage.

Transformative. Inspiring. Healing.

Goodness it took me maybe two days to finish this book. On a very personal note I loved the Author's vulnerability, willingness to open herself up in a real way; and let me in on her journey. As a mental health therapist I have now recommended this book to about 15 clients as an example of hope and how sharing our stories can transform our present. This Author, Rachel, shows us that we can transform our present; that our stories can heal us as we share them. This is an important journey to see how questions can bring new perspectives; connect people; and see how okay it is to change and grow. Please - grab the book and read!

Beautiful

Beautiful!!
¡Buen Camino!
Namaste 🙏🙏🏻🙏🏼🙏🏽🙏🏾🙏🏿
Thank you for sharing your perspective and adventurous spirit.
I think my favorite part was how you embraced both of your blessings. I also really enjoyed your interview on Faith Matters.

Read the paperback, then listened ASAP!

I love this memoir, and Rachel Rueckert does an excellent job narrating. I read the paperback shortly after it was released and then bought the audiobook as soon as it was available. New insights hit me while listening and I found myself pausing to soak in Rachel's insight and wisdom.

Did what it sought to do

This book had the feel of an author's first published work, but overall I enjoyed it. I appreciated witnessing the author work through her struggles and draw her own conclusions about what marriage means to her and acknowledge what had shaped her ideas. I think more and more people of faith are going to need to go through this struggle of examining marriage, as culture continues to shift in light of living in an age of individualism and changing societal ideas about "traditional" marriage. I suppose I'm trying to say it feels timely. I appreciated the author's honesty about the good, the bad, and the ugly of marriage and what it means to be an imperfect human in an ideally forever relationship. I have personally been married 18 years, and it still resonated with me. I hope she continues to write--I look forward to seeing what she does next.