The Best of Us

A Memoir

By: Joyce Maynard

Narrated by: Joyce Maynard

In 2011, when she was in her late 50s, beloved author and journalist Joyce Maynard met the first true partner she had ever known. Jim wore a rakish hat over a good head of hair; he asked real questions and gave real answers; he loved to see Joyce shine, both in and out of the spotlight; and he didn't mind the mess she made in the kitchen. He was not the husband Joyce imagined, but he quickly became the partner she had always dreamed of.

Before they met, both had believed they were done with marriage, and even after they married, Joyce resolved that no one could alter her course of determined independence. Then, just after their one-year wedding anniversary, her new husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. During the 19 months that followed, as they battled his illness together, she discovered for the first time what it really meant to be a couple - to be a true partner and to have one.

This is their story. Charting the course through their whirlwind romance, a marriage cut short by tragedy, and Joyce's return to singleness on new terms, The Best of Us is a heart-wrenching, ultimately life-affirming reflection on coming to understand true love through the experience of great loss.

©2017 Joyce Maynard (P)2017 HighBridge, a Division of Recorded Books

The strength of love in adversity

Like all of the books I have read by Joyce Maynard thus far numbering 6 and counting this was a beautifully told story of family, relationships, great love and great loss. The story of Joyce and Jimmy is so incredibly touching and a reminder of what those vows really mean when the worst happens. I will carry this story with me for a long time. Also a shoutout to Dr. Ron Weiss, a wonderful and compassionate physician I have had the honor of knowing.

Lovely memoir of late love and caretaking

This book is really special in many ways. The beginning is not great- dating stories that are kind of shallow- but it picks up when Joyce meets her man. A sweet tale of love, loss and taking care of her soulmate through his illness.

Caring and loving people

Open and honest love and respect for each other! Open heart and soul in sharing relationships

A remarkable book

This is a must read for anyone with a life partner. Joyce's story teaches us all about cherishing the time we have with people we love.

A devastating book

As a recent widow, I found the story of Joyce Maynard and her husband’s love, cancer diagnosis and death horribly sad. I cried many times while listening. Perhaps it was cathartic. It is books like these that touch us so deeply that stay in the memory forever.

Gorgeous, heartbreaking, inspiring

Thank you Joyce Maynard for sharing your true and precious story of love and loss. For those of us who have gone through this, your words are a friend in the dark. For those who have not experienced this sort of loss or the illness of a spouse, this story will teach you to love better and see the gift of everyday. I highly recommend this book. Be prepared to nod, shout, cry, and feel gratitude for hearing hard and beautiful truths.

A true life love story

This is a true love story. It's not a romance, although there certainly are many romantic moments, and it's not a tragedy, even though there is a great deal of sadness and loss. Anyone who has been in a committed, loving relationship will relate to this beautiful story of what it means to love another person without reservation. Beautifully read by the author, which makes the story even more powerful.

This memoir sizzles with great love and pain...

Having been recently made aware of Joyce Maynard through a Creative Live class she was teaching on Memoir,
I was immediately drawn to her and downloaded her book on audible which I could not stop listening to. As an artist and creative writer myself, I identified with much of her mercurial and independent spirit. But when the story takes a dark turn as her late in life soulmate Jim, found himself battling Pancreatic Cancer --- my past life as a caretaker to my own husband's horrific ordeal with a different kind of cancer came to haunt me like a dream. The depth of a great love, the intimacies and terror involved in watching someone you love waste away and the creativity it births to shape and fill that emotional void in order to make sense of your life, totally resonated with me. Both of our husbands died young (mine was 58, her husband Jim was 64), were both attorneys, had strong moral compasses that always had them doing the right thing, loved us fiercely, were special souls that were unfairly dealt a cruel fate. "The Best of Us" is a love letter to those who might be open to finding love again, living passionately with great abandon and experiencing the gift that sometimes, when we are open to receiving, miracles will happen.

The Best of Us

This is the first book I’ve ever heard on Audible. A friend recommended it because I had recently reconnected with an old lover and it’s serious. I’m 59 and he 61. I loved the descriptive nature of this story, and loved to live vicariously through her trips and travels. I loved their love story and watching her honest struggles of what commitment meant. My mother died of cancer and this gave me insight to what she and my father went through. I cried as I learned of his diagnoses, had to actually pull off the road. This is an honest, funny, heart-wrenching story. I loved hearing the vows at the end. Not sure if that was actually Jim’s voice, I hope it was, but that part really helped me to identify with and come to know the man.

I loved the honesty of real life

I actually heard Joyce on Dr. Drew Pinsky’s podcast. Something intrigued me to listen to the book. I enjoyed it. An eye opener to pancreatic cancer and how important every minute with a loved one really is.