This Ragged Grace: A Memoir of Recovery and Renewal

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The experience of being trapped in an addictive relationship to any substance is ultimately very monotonous, from a psychological point of view, even if you’re wearing cool clothes and surrounded by avant-garde people. One of us was heading towards recovery and the other person was heading away from any possibility of recovery.

Octavia has a particular talent for capturing the wild and nebulous experience of grief in a truly eloquent way, holding lightly the many contradictions inherent in coming to terms with love and loss.

That is, because I always wonder, a little, what it is that might make me want to read some kind of ‘misery memoir’ where a journey into darkness and probably some degradation looks to be part of the journey. Although Sarah had devoted her professional life to the study of death and how we grieve, she found that nothing could have prepared her for the reality of illness and the devastation of loss. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. A beautifully written and intellectual account of a woman coming to terms with herself … Heartbreakingly tender … Her sensitivity to the world is what makes the writing so beautiful and, ultimately, hopeful. this surpassed any expectations i may have had, such an incredible exploration of addiction and it’s impacts on livelihood.

I've recently read another book about addiction, Good Morning Destroyer of Men's Souls, and although there are similarities in the narrative, everyone's experiences with addiction are completely different. I’m an absolute sucker for memoir and this one had everything I love: languages, different places, literary references, the sea, mythology, symbols.It's not an easy read as it's like being punched at time but it's a testimony of how you can face a very harsh life and win. I’d wanted to give myself over to something not in my hands – the risk of the unknown, whether a new person or a new experience. Over the course of seven chapters we see Olivia rediscover herself, and begin to thrive in her new life while simultaneously trying to help her parents come to terms with the inevitable.

this idea that as we evolve, somewhere deep within us remains a skeletal trace of what came before that builds up in layers, a sediment of the self. It's only the death drive, my dear, Freud would likely tell me, if I lay my body down on his carpet covered couch. The Green Transition Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team.As Octavia moves between London, the island of Stromboli, New York, Cornwall and Margate, each place offers something new but ultimately always delivers the same message: that wherever you go, you take yourself with you. I learned I could disappear into other things, too: new friendships, new cities, new lovers, new things. The trouble with escape routes is that, when it’s yourself you’re running from, eventually they stop working.

It's beautifully narrated and leaves you with lots of food for thought, traversing an emotional journey with sensitivity, intelligence and wit. It is an ongoing recovery process, one filled with hope, or a loss of it, but also renewal as Octavia Bright so masterfully conveys in This Ragged Grace. Recommended by the New York Times, Guardian, BBC Culture, Electric Literature, Sunday Times and others, it has run for ten years and has listeners worldwide.

But if addiction is rooted in the will to forget, recovery is an act of remembering – a slow reconnection with the parts of yourself that slipped out of reach while you hungered for escape.