The Forgiveness Tour: How To Find the Perfect Apology

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"Essential reading."Publishers Weekly

"Enlightening and universally relevant."Kirkus

To err is human; to forgive divine. But what if the person who hurt you most refuses to apologize or express any regret

Thats the question haunting Manhattan journalist Susan Shapiro when her trusted advisor of fifteen years repeatedly lies to her. Stunned by the betrayal, she can barely eat or sleep. Shes always seen herself as big-hearted and benevolent, someone who will forgive anyone anything as long as theyre remorseful. Yet the addiction specialist who helped her quit smoking, drinking, and drugs after decades of self-destruction wont explainor stophis ongoing deceit, leaving her blindsided. Her crisis management strategy is becoming her crisis.

To protect her sanity and sobriety, Shapiro ends their relationship and vows theyll never speak again. Yet ghosting him doesnt end her distress. She has screaming arguments with him in her mind, relives their fallout in panicked nightmares and even lights a candle, chanting a secret Yiddish curse to exact revenge.

In her entrancing, heartfelt new memoir The Forgiveness Tour: How to Find the Perfect Apology, Shapiro wrestles with how to exonerate someone who cant cough up a measly my bad or mumble mea culpa. Seeking wisdom, she explores the billion-dollar forgiveness industry touting the personal benefits of absolution, where the only choice on every channel is: radical forgiveness. She fears its all bullshit.

Desperate for enlightenment, she surveys her old rabbis, as well as religious leaders from every denomination. Unable to reconcile all the confusing abstractions, she embarks on a cross country journey where she interviews people who suffered unforgivable wrongs that were never atoned: victims of genocides, sexual assault, infidelity, cruelty and racism. A Holocaust survivor in D.C. admits hes thrived from spite. A Michigan man meets with the drunk driver who killed his wife and children. A daughter in Seattle grapples with her motherwho stayed married to the father who raped her. Knowing their estrangement isnt her fault, a Florida mom spends eight years apologizing to her son anywaywith surprising results. Does love mean forever having to say youre sorry

Critics praised Shapiros previous memoir Lighting Up: How I Stopped Smoking, Drinking and Everything Else I Loved in Life Except Sex as fiercely honest, fascinating, funny and a mind-bendingly good read. Now the bestselling author and popular writing professor returns with a darker, wiser follow-up, addressing the universal enigma of blind forgiving.

Shapiros brilliant new gurus sooth her broken psyche and answer her burning mystery: How can you forgive someone without an apology Does she Should you