The First Ten Years

Two Sides of the Same Love Story

By: Joseph Fink, Meg Bashwiner

Narrated by: Joseph Fink, Meg Bashwiner

A sometimes hilarious, occasionally heartbreaking, and always entertaining joint memoir by Joseph Fink, cocreator of Welcome to Night Vale, and his wife, writer and performer Meg Bashwiner, chronicling the first 10 years of their relationship from both sides.

There are two sides to every love story.

In 2009, 22-year-old Joseph Fink, newly arrived to New York City from the West Coast, was juggling odd jobs to pay the rent and volunteering with a theater company in the East Village so he could snag free tickets to their shows.

Meg Bashwiner, a 22-year-old aspiring performer and playwright, was living with her parents in New Jersey, working a desk job and commuting to her internship with that same East Village theater company.

Joseph and Meg's stories meet when they both find themselves selling tickets in a cramped box office. They quickly became friends. Within a year, they were a couple. Within five years they were touring the world, performing on some of the world's greatest and not so great stages.

In this candid, soul-baring memoir, Joseph and Meg recount their first 10 years together, each telling their story as they remember it, without having consulted the other. We hear both sides of their first kiss, first breakup, first getting back together, the death of a father, marriage, international fame, world tours, mental illness, and discussions about having children. Sometimes, they recall things differently - neither agrees on who paid for the morning after pill on their first date. Sometimes they remember the exact same details in the same way - but still have their own narrative on just what those details mean.

Poignant, funny, and real, alternately told in Joseph and Meg’s remarkably different, yet equally compelling voices, The First Ten Years is the story of two individuals finding their way in the world and becoming "adults" as they learn to become a couple.

©2021 Joseph Fink and Meg Bashwiner (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

You should read this book

I am grateful to have read this book and I believe that you will be too.

What a delight

I really enjoyed this book more than I expected to. it was a book club selection and I'm so glad! Meg and Joseph now feel like friends, and I wish it had covered 2020 and the COVID times too. maybe s follow-up book!

funny, endearing, real

this look at the first ten years of their relationship is often brutally honest in a way that most people always feel but will never admit to. it normalizes, it gives hope, and it inspires. I love them so much, and found so much joy in this recount of their love story

A love story and so much more

This was a beautiful retelling of a love story from two different perspectives. it shows how our memories overlap and differ with those we love. In a lot of ways it's also about growing up and into who you really are. There is a lot of beautiful vulnerability and honesty in this story. I highly recommend it.

Great book but give it up about the economic crisis

This was a great book and a really interesting read especially from a psychological perspective to see how two married peoples memories overlap and differ. That said it was excruciating listening to two theatre majors in college constantly complain about how the 2008 economic collapse killed their job prospects being oblivious that their choice in a college major was likely faaaaaar more complicit in their joblessness and underemployment than any economic crisis.

Loved it!

Congrats on a great book! You guys are amazing and Iris is lucky yo have you!

Thank you

You make me believe that good people exist. Somewhere. That healthy relationship is not a myth. That hard work can find the public.

Surprisingly Amazing

Although I am not familiar with Welcome to Night Vale, or any other work from these authors I was immediately drawn into the humorous and heartfelt story telling. As a girl from California, who fell in love with a Jersey guy, I totally resonated with the experiences, challenges and delights of falling in love with my coastal opposite. I also really Meg's humorous account of how to determine if you TRULY want to get married or are just caught up in societal expectations, which is the first time I have ever heard my similar beliefs expressed in such an articulate and digestible manner. Their love story is non-traditional, fun, and ultimately full of strange but useful tips to help any true love survive. I was sucked into the sharp and biting writing style and didn't want it to end!!! Strangely, this surprise novel will stay with me for a long time, and I am sure I will read again and again.

I want to be friends with these guys!

I’d never heard of the authors before but I thoroughly enjoyed this book 😁 Great job on the writing and performance. I can’t wait until the next installment after becoming parents 🤞🏼

Irreverent and angsty. Excellent performance.

Performance is excellent and you can tell both authors are very interesting and intelligent creatives. Honestly made me very curious to listen to Nightvale as I had never heard of it prior to this book. I thought this book was going to be very different- more self help marriage type over memoir. That was my mistake, but I didn't feel the auidiobook was bad - just not my cup of tea. It was very irreverent, particularly of religion, which I can stomach for the most part, but to rip up a Bible to use as joint rolling paper was just too much for me. Also, very political, and just feels angsty in some sections. Clearly they are very passionate people and I appreciated their perspectives and humor.