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You Can Start All Over: A Guide For The Widow And Divorcee
Seminal early self-help book from renowned author Marjorie H. Roulston, who had a varied life from minister’s daughter to fashion journalist to millionaire’s wife to widow.
“THE TITLE of this book, You Can Start All Over, isn’t something dreamed up to sugar-coat an easy, overoptimistic confidence. It is the expression of a strong conviction. I believe that when life brings a devastating change, leaving one alone and desolate, one can start all over. For I have done just that, three different times, two of them for bitterly unhappy reasons.
Some people never have to. I frequently meet women, and not always very young ones, who state that they are living in the same houses in which they were born and married. Not long ago, I had occasion to send flowers to the funeral of a woman in her eighties who had never lost her husband or child, had lived along at about the same financial level from the cradle to the grave, and many of whose girlhood friends were sitting right there in the front pews. Nobody seemed to think it remarkable. Nobody, that is, but me.”
“THE TITLE of this book, You Can Start All Over, isn’t something dreamed up to sugar-coat an easy, overoptimistic confidence. It is the expression of a strong conviction. I believe that when life brings a devastating change, leaving one alone and desolate, one can start all over. For I have done just that, three different times, two of them for bitterly unhappy reasons.
Some people never have to. I frequently meet women, and not always very young ones, who state that they are living in the same houses in which they were born and married. Not long ago, I had occasion to send flowers to the funeral of a woman in her eighties who had never lost her husband or child, had lived along at about the same financial level from the cradle to the grave, and many of whose girlhood friends were sitting right there in the front pews. Nobody seemed to think it remarkable. Nobody, that is, but me.”
156 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 20, 2023
Not as fun and humorous as Live Alone And Like It, but understandably so - this book is aimed at widows and divorcees. I'd say that most of the advice is still relevant today, though some is charmingly out of date. There's something very comforting about Marjorie's books, they give you a feeling that it's all going to be OK in the end. I enjoyed the advice at the end about keeping your mind and style young and flexible, including forcing yourself to read a few bestsellers every year to keep up with the modern times, and listen to some modern music occasionally even if you only want to listen to Bach!
January 30, 2024
I found this book at a thrift store. Originally $2.50 for a hardback book in 1951. No matter if the circumstances for the book's target audience aren't your own- this book is full of practical advice for self-discovery and keeping your outlook fresh. Sure, some parts will be outdated. Perhaps you will wish some ways of life hadn't changed. Perhaps you will find you are glad they did!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews