Bright Precious Thing, Gail Caldwell
Bright Precious Thing, Gail Caldwell
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Bright Precious Thing
A Memoir

Author: Gail Caldwell

Narrator: Gail Caldwell

Unabridged: 4 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/07/2020


Synopsis

From the New York Times bestselling author of Let’s Take the Long Way Home comes a moving memoir about how the women’s movement revolutionized and saved her life, from the 1960s to the Me Too era.

In a voice as candid as it is evocative, Gail Caldwell traces a path from her west Texas girlhood through her emergence as a young daredevil, then as a feminist—a journey that reflected seismic shifts in the culture itself. Caldwell’s travels took her to California and Mexico and dark country roads, and the dangers she encountered were rivaled only by the personal demons she faced. Bright Precious Thing is the captivating story of a woman’s odyssey, her search for adventure giving way to something more profound: the evolution of a writer and a woman, a struggle to embrace one’s life as a precious thing.

Told against a contrasting backdrop of the present day, including the author’s friendship with a young neighborhood girl, Bright Precious Thing unfolds with the same heart and narrative grace of Caldwell’s Let’s Take the Long Way Home, called “a lovely gift to readers” by The Washington Post. Bright Precious Thing is a book about finding, then protecting, what we cherish most.

About Gail Caldwell

Gail Caldwell is the chief book critic for the Boston Globe, where she has been a staff writer and critic since 1985. In 2001, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism. She has served on many national literary juries, including several times as chair of the fiction jury for the Pulitzer Prize and the Bingham Fellowship for PEN America. She is a member of PEN International and the author of A Strong West Wind. Gail lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lacey

History is a series of snapshots, sweet or tattered images that shift through the years to haunt us, to give ballast to the entire story. And however much we waste time and heart imagining what might have been, the truth is that it's impossible, really, to examine an unlived life. What we feel inste......more

Goodreads review by Amy

I won this book through a giveaway in exchange for an honest review. This was such a sweet, touching, heart-warming memoir. It made me tear up a few times when referring to the dogs. This lady writes really well. I found the length of the book and the chapters inside of it to be just perfect. It kept......more

Goodreads review by Lydia

Gail Caldwell traces a path of her Texas girlhood through her emergence as a young daredevil, then as a feminist. Caldwell's travels took her to California and Mexico and dark country roads, and the dangers she encountered were rivaled by the demons she faced. A captivating tale of a woman's search......more

Haven't ever read anything by this author, and I am wondering how I missed her! This was a tender, book, a pool or pond to float in and stare at the sky while your bestie talks and talks and you get lost in their words and voice. It was a great listen. She's traveled far and wide, but has settled in......more


Quotes

“Reading Caldwell is like sitting down over tea and cookies with a close friend, only to realize several hours later that together you've devoured the whole plateful and dinnertime has come and gone.”NPR

“Caldwell is a charming and affable writer, proud yet self-deprecating, thoughtful and witty. Her story, while often painful, is never didactic, preachy or judgmental. . . . God willing, she will write to us again.”—Star Tribune

“Deeply affecting.”—Goop

“She’s just a great memoirist and storyteller.”The Boston Globe

“Caldwell’s writing, as always, is lush and lyrical, her honesty both captivating and refreshing, qualities that shine anew with a fierce and vibrant luminescence.”Booklist (starred review)

“A glistening reflection on how the women’s movement profoundly influenced the Pulitzer Prize winner’s life . . . Caldwell’s fourth memoir sings. It’s a song for the ages, but it sounds especially resonant in the #MeToo era.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)