NATIONAL BESTSELLER - From the acclaimed author of Bird by Bird
comes a personal, wise, very funny, and "life-affirming" book (People)
that shows us how to find meaning and hope through shining the light of
faith on the darkest part of ordinary life.
"Anne Lamott is walking proof that a person can be both reverent and
irreverent in the same lifetime. Sometimes even in the same breath."
--San Francisco Chronicle
Lamott claims the two best prayers she knows are: "Help me, help me,
help me" and "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She has a friend whose
morning prayer each day is "Whatever," and whose evening prayer is "Oh,
well." Anne thinks of Jesus as "Casper the friendly savior" and
describes God as "one crafty mother."
Despite--or because of--her irreverence, faith is a natural subject for
Anne Lamott. Since Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird, her fans
have been waiting for her to write the book that explained how she came
to the big-hearted, grateful, generous faith that she so often alluded
to in her two earlier nonfiction books. The people in Anne Lamott's real
life are like beloved characters in a favorite series for her
readers--her friend Pammy, her son, Sam, and the many funny and wise
folks who attend her church are all familiar. And Traveling Mercies is a
welcome return to those lives, as well as an introduction to new
companions Lamott treats with the same candor, insight, and
tenderness.
Lamott's faith isn't about easy answers, which is part of what endears
her to believers as well as nonbelievers. Against all odds, she came to
believe in God and then, even more miraculously, in herself. As she puts
it, "My coming to faith did not start with a leap but rather a series of
staggers."
