How to Be Loved

de Eva Hagberg

"A luminous memoir about how friendship saved one woman's life, for anyone who has loved a friend who was sick, grieving, or lost--and for anyone who has struggled to seek or accept help. Eva Hagberg Fisher spent her lonely youth looking everywhere for connection: drugs, alcohol, therapists, boyfriends, girlfriends. Sometimes she found it, but always temporarily. Then, at age thirty, an undiscovered mass in her brain ruptured. So did her life. That first brain surgery marked the beginning of a long journey. When her illness hit a critical stage, it forced her to finally admit the long-suppressed truth: she was vulnerable, she needed help, and she longed to grow. She needed true friendship for the first time. How To Be Loved is the story of how an isolated person's life was ripped apart only to be gently stitched back together through friendship, and the recovery--of many stripes--that came along the way. It explores the isolation so many of us feel despite living in an age of constant connectivity; how our ambitions sometimes pull us apart more than bring us together; and how a simple doughnut, delivered by a caring soul, can become the essence of what makes a life valuable. With gorgeous prose shot through with joy, pain, fear, and the secret truths inside all of us, Eva writes about the friends who taught her to grow up and open her heart--and how the relentlessness of suffering can give rise to the greatest joy"-- "A luminous memoir about how friendship saved one woman's life, for anyone who has loved a friend who was sick, grieving, or lost--and for anyone who has struggled to seek help or accept it"-- Hagberg Fisher spent her lonely youth looking everywhere for connection: drugs, alcohol, therapists, boyfriends, girlfriends. Sometimes she found it ... temporarily. Then, at age thirty, an undiscovered mass in her brain ruptured, and so did her life. When her illness hit a critical stage, it forced her to finally admit the long-suppressed truth: she was vulnerable, she needed help, and she needed true friendship for the first time. Here she explores the isolation so many of us feel despite living in an age of constant connectivity, and writes about the friends who taught her to grow up and open her heart. -- adapted from jacket