JOIN
A Memoir in 65 Postcards & The Recovery Diaries
By Eleanor Anstruther
Genres: Memoir
Age Groups: 18+
Inspired by Julia Cameron’s classic The Artist’s Way, Eleanor set out on a project to write every morning, and crucially, to publish it on Substack that same morning; a commitment to press the button as soon as she’d finished, and before she had time to regret it. She set rules: she’d do no forward planning, she’d tell whatever story came to mind, the writing would take no longer than an hour, the reading of it, no longer than a minute. What came was A Memoir In 65 Postcards, the personal story that had been knocking about her system for well over twenty years. Questions were answered, and a puzzle was put together. Using the same rules of engagement, its follow up, The Recovery Diaries, became a deeper exploration of what emerged and how she is now.
With humour and honesty, from a pagan commune to sobriety, this collection of essays and stories form a unique exploration of wealth, survival, the questions that haunt us, and what makes us human. It’s you and me. It’s where our worlds collide.
Formats
EBOOK, PAPERBACK
Reviews
Amazon
This has real immediacy and a driving energy that I really enjoyed. Anstruther decided to get up every morning and write a short episode from her life, publishing it through Substack as soon as she had finished without editing or second guessing herself. We veer back and forwards through time depending on her mood and what has happened to her in the twenty four hours between one 'postcard' and the next. The writing is frank and sometimes difficult to read because of that, but always pulling you forward, despite its non linear execution. This restlessness is beautifully suited to the peripatetic hurly burly of her life and the resulting tensions in the need to run away from things but also to face them. This teeter totter and the not knowing which way we or she will go is as addictive as many of the things she talks about. This is smart, raw, writing with real heart.