Around the House and in the Garden: A Memoir of Heartbreak, Healing, and Home Improvement

(Paperback)

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Description

"My story," writes Dominique Browning, the editor in chief of House & Garden, "is about the way a house can express loss, and then bereavement, and then, finally, the rebuilding of a life." Around the House and in the Garden is a moving narrative, culled from Browning's much-loved monthly editorial column, about the solace and sense of self that can be found through tending to one's home. From building a high stone wall in the garden to learning that every kitchen deserves a good kitchen couch, Browning reminds us that making a home is more than just a materialistic endeavor -- it is a way for us to comfort and reinvent ourselves, to "have the final word about what goes where...what feels comfortable, what is life enhancing...and gives us strength to go out and embrace the world."

Reviews

The New York Times Book Review Browning has an unerring gift for capturing revelatory events. Chicago Tribune Reinvention -- of home and self -- is at the heart of this simple yet elegant book. Browning's gift is telling her story of failed love through her feelings about household objects and daily routines, showing how her heart, her home, and her garden begin to heal. Cheryl Mendelson, author of Home Comforts Browning describes more eloquently than anyone else how our homes shape and support and change with our lives...This is a wonderful book. Detroit Free Press Browning's voice and style are personal, good-humored, and evocative...To paraphrase her own words, she tended the house and garden for years. In the end, she finds, the house and garden took good care of her. Sarah Ban Breathnach, author of Simple Abundance [Browning] shares her unique and appealing blend of warmth, wit, and domestic wisdom, and the result is moving and personal as well as useful and inspiring. Jay McInerney author of Bright Lights, Big City andBacchus and Me: Adventures in the Wine Cellar Anyone who has ever owned a house, planted a bulb, or lost a lover should read this book...Beautiful, haunting, and inspiring.

Author Bio

Dominique Browning is the editor in chief of House & Garden. She lives in New York with her two teenage sons.