The Alchemy of Loss

A Young Widow's Transformation

By: Abigail Carter

Narrated by: Abigail Carter

Like A Year of Magical Thinking, this powerful and touching book is both an inspirational read and a comfort to those who are looking for help in overcoming loss.

"The phone rang. It was my husband Arron telling me that he was at Windows of the World in the World Trade Center. 'There's been a bomb!' he said. I had been preparing my six-year-old daughter for her second day of first grade, balancing my two-year-old son on my hip, and I was distracted. 'OK...' I managed to say back. It was 8:49 a.m. on September 11, 2001. He never came home."

Abigail Carter is smart, funny, perceptive, and bereft. In the eyes of most, herself included, she had it all - a full life with a loving successful husband and two beautiful children. But in a horrifying instant watched by the world, it was gone, and her life and her children's were changed irreparably. How does one learn to live again after tragedy?

The Alchemy of Loss is Abby's moving story of answering that unimaginable question. Veering away from the trite and pat grief books, which offer one-size-fits-all solutions to this most deeply personal and unique experience, she realizes that each person must forge her own path through grief, and that there are no right answers.

Abby's journey took her six years, in which she turned everything she knew about herself upside down in order to learn to live again. She charts this journey in the year's most remarkable memoir. The Alchemy of Loss is her gift to us all - reminding us that life throws up roadblocks we can't anticipate, and that we cannot live well if we live with regrets.

©2008 Abigail Carter (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Resilient in the end, Carter shares all her doubts and fears along the way, which other grieving widows may appreciate." (Publishers Weekly)

What a journey

I was riveted. I cried, I smiled, and learned so much. After getting hooked on YouTube watching Abby begin working on her Chateau in France, I was intrigued. Even though this book is from a few years ago, that last part about the house with the rooms having wild colors reminded me of the interesting colors of the rooms at the Chateau. I am so sorry for the loss of such a loving, fun, wonderful husband-father-son. Abby is an inspiration to find your inner strength at your own pace without giving up on yourself. Abby - Thank you for sharing your journey through that part of your life.

Straight Honesty

Abbie gave us all a clear understanding of something we have not heard elsewhere in the outcomes of 9/11, the spouse. I’m sure many people thought about how the surviving spouse coped with the horrible loss after that day. She even included getting weary of the arranged memorials a few years in but also how so many people and programs helped her and the children along the path. we hear how the extended family copes with the massive changes in their lives both good and bad. She comes across as a normal woman thrown into something no one could have anticipated who finds a way to honor her young husband while learning to move on with her life. Well written and eye-opening. I will think of her and hope her life becomes comfortable and that she finds love again. She deserves that.