Review of Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment by Katrina Kenison

How to Meet the Challenges of Change

If there is a book that might change your life for the better, “Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment” by Katrina Kenison [Grand Central Publishing, $24.99] might be the one. This book is a summer blanket to any woman who has ever felt loss, an empty nest, a life-changing event, whether it be a divorce, loss of a job or something as simple as the appearance of age spots. “Magical Journey” is a sweet, comforting balm for the soul.

At 50, after losing a good friend to cancer, sending her only two children off to college and boarding school, moving to a new home and suddenly realizing her marriage has lost its “heat,” Kenison finds herself stuck. She writes: “What we all have in common is a sense of having reached a turning point. And, as we come face-to-face with the realities of our changing bodies, our changing roles, our changing lives we are aware as never before that our time here is finite … we are compelled to meet our true selves at last.”

Kenison is able to connect readers to their “true selves” with a sense of understanding, transparency and authenticity. Her “voice’” is quieting and encouraging, and between each page you will discover you are not alone, you are not nuts and, yes, you belong to this world. The next half of the journey is even better.