Left on Tenth

A Second Chance at Life: A Memoir

By: Delia Ephron

Narrated by: Delia Ephron

The best-selling, beloved writer of romantic comedies like You've Got Mail tells her own late-in-life love story, complete with a tragic second act and joyous resolution.

Delia Ephron had struggled through several years of heartbreak. She’d lost her sister, Nora, and then her husband, Jerry, both to cancer. Several months after Jerry’s death, she decided to make one small change in her life - she shut down his landline, which crashed her internet. She ended up in Verizon hell.

She channeled her grief the best way she knew: by writing a New York Times op-ed. The piece caught the attention of Peter, a Bay Area psychiatrist, who emailed her to commiserate. Recently widowed himself, he reminded her that they had shared a few dates 54 years before, set up by Nora. Delia did not remember him, but after several weeks of exchanging emails and '60s folk songs, he flew east to see her. They were crazy, utterly, in love.

But this was not a rom-com: Four months later, she was diagnosed with AML, a fierce leukemia.

In Left on Tenth, Delia Ephron enchants as she seesaws us between tears and laughter, navigating the suicidal lows of enduring cutting-edge treatment and the giddy highs of a second chance at love. With Peter and her close girlfriends by her side, with startling clarity, warmth, and honesty about facing death, Ephron invites us to join her team of warriors and become believers ourselves.

©2022 Delia Ephron (P)2022 Little, Brown & Company

Critic reviews

"Delia Ephron’s stunning Left on Tenth will make you believe in love again, and also in miracles. And it’s so very, very funny." (Sarah Dunn, author of The Arrangements)

“Delia masterfully and hilariously reminds us that there is always more life to be found just around the corner. A powerful, beautiful, life affirming testament to hope and meaning in the darkest hour. Somehow it felt like the answers to all of the big questions were immediately lurking in the text, and like any decent existentialist and searcher, I couldn’t put it down and finished it in one sitting.” (Natasha Lyonne, writer, director, actor)

“Only someone with a heart of stone could resist the charms of Delia Ephron's tender, moving story of late-life love and illness. Ephron writes with singular transparency of her treatment for leukemia—the same disease that killed her sister seven years earlier—and the unbearable terror and pain she suffered. But Ephron is at heart a writer naturally drawn to light who finds joy and humor even in life's darkest corners. This wonderful memoir is an ode to the enduring power of love and friendship.” (Joanna Rakoff, best-selling author of My Salinger Year)

“Oh, huge-hearted Delia Ephron! I loved this book. It’s a memoir about grief and illness, but it’s also basically a love letter to her people, and it’s a gorgeous one. Because here is someone who chooses joy over and over again—who chooses friendship and love, like a fountain of gratitude that turns despair into a glittery, rainbow-scattering spray of light. Her lucky friends! Forgive yourself for wishing you were one of them.” (Catherine Newman, author of Catastrophic Happiness: Finding Joy in Childhood's Messy Years)

Thank you Delia for your candid memoir!

As a fellow cancer survivor - 12 years clean. I throughly enjoyed your honest description of your experience.
Well written & explains the roller coaster of feelings one experiences going thru the medical process. As a fan of Delia’s writing since Eat like a Child - and of course her writing with her sister Nora. Bravo Delia - to second chances at life - and love the title,,, Left on 10th .. Cheryl

Beautiful Story

When I started this, I thought “what the heck? Is this a documentary or what?” It is really a one person reaccounting of her life thus far.
Next I thought ”boy this is going to be boring.”
It was anything but that. It is actually full of life, love and understanding. I loved every part of it and cheered for the writer.

I hope that in writing this book, she makes a lot of money to help with the expenses she incurred with her illness. If you were going through something like this, I think this would be very inspirational. Even if you were not, I believe this book is very inspirational. I will remember and I will think of her words and what she went through for a very long time. I, too, love my husband passionately and can’t help but smile when I see how surprised young people are. Here is a great big secret… Sex just gets better and better so don’t count us out because we are older than you. We are actually more experienced than you!
Thank you Ms Ephron for sharing your life and I hope you find you have a long time to go.

Great book in every level

I could hardly stop listening to this book, which is well-narrated by the author. She touches on widowhood, carrying for a terminally ill loved one, navigating cancer treatment and falling in love unexpectedly in her 70s.

Encouraging

A new love and a chance to beat cancer! I love that the book was read by the author. It made it more real. I laughed and I cried. I identified with her in so many ways. I too am a blood cancer patient. I was rooting for her not to give up. I am so glad she didn’t. Looking forward to her next book.

Moving book

A must read!
A journey of love, hope and life itself.
I wish I could be a friend of Delia Ephron, a special and joyful person to add to my life.
S. Becker

Like a conversation with a dear friend!

A wonderful, soulful account of a time of great sorrow, great joyful love, and terrifying illness. I'm more familiar with Delia Ephron's sister Nora, but this is intimate, lovely and courageous. What a life! The time flew by as I listened, I couldn't stop the story. I recommend this highly, especially for women of a certain age facing mortality. Well done.

great memoir

This was an unexpectedly delightful memoir about a person I didn't know. I was familiar with Nora, but nit Delia. This was a thoroughly interesting listen.

Love i left on Tenth book

Am very pleased to be enmity listening and while reading on my printed book ,her story Touched me and put a smile on my face ,I understand how she feels when you feel your done with all of the treatments,then your oncologist tells you ,that you can’t get off of the replacement hormones treatment,because it’s to risky and it’s a good chance that my cancer can come back and it can be overwhelming. But this book has thought me ,never give up hope and keep fighting

I would totally recommend this book for any cancer patient that is going throw some hard-chip times ,as this book can help cheer anyone Thad’s going to cancer battles in their life times thank you so much for the author who wrote this book ,it’s fun and engaging to listen to on audio .

Sincerely
Danette

Courage or Healthy Denial

No one can read this book without a true understanding of both
The horrors of leukemia and the treatment. The author gave a beautiful written time capsule of what she learned to fear…living…with fear or dying without treatment. This story evoked suppressed emotions of my personal experiences with cancer treatment. As Delia went through this with one foot in denial and one foot in living. Happily life choose her.

Listen, laugh, and grab a hankie

A very moving book about death, loss, love, life, and illness—just beautiful. You’ll love her voice (not all authors succeed at reading, as you undoubtedly know if you’re on this platform) and admire her determination and her storytelling. Brava Delia Ephron