Echoes in the Hills
Around the time Elizabeth Gilbert turned thirty, she went through an early-onslaught of midlife crisis. She had everything an educated, ambitious American woman was supposed to want - a husband, a house, a successful career. But instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed with panic, grief, and confusion. She went through a divorce, a crushing depression, another failed love, and the eradication of everything she ever thought she was supposed to be. To recover from all this, Gilbert took a radical step. In order to give herself the time and space to find out who she really was and what she really wanted, she got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world - all alone. EAT, PRAY, LOVE is the absorbing chronicle of that year. In Rome, she studied the art of pleasure; India was for the art of devotion; in Bali, she studied the art of balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.