The Future Tense of Joy: A Memoir

This is the revised tenth anniversary edition of the memoir Library Journey hailed with a starred review, and Kirkus called "an honest, compassionate memoir about shaking off personal demons." The book has become a favorite of celebrated writers including Steve Martin, Harlan Coben, and Daniel Silva.When Jessica Teich happens upon the obituary of a fellow Rhodes scholar named Lacey, she vows to unravel the truth behind the young woman's suicide. As Lacey's story unspools, Teich begins to detect haunting links to her own life, forcing her to reflect on her own anguished past. A tender, profoundly affecting book, The Future Tense of Joy immerses readers in the fluid shifts between past and present, as each woman struggles to free herself from the ghosts of her memory. The book defies genres to tell the intertwining stories of two talented, troubled women, each trying to reclaim her future and find strength and solace in the embrace of the people she loves. "'No one was less likely to take her own life.' That's what her Oxford thesis advisor said. From the moment I stumbled across her obituary, late at night when I could not sleep, I was captivated. This brilliant woman seemed incandescent. She was gifted and generous and beloved. Twenty-six years old, and a newlywed. Why would she decide to die?"Teich's understanding of trauma is the infallible authority upon which her tale rests. But the delicacy and nuance with which she renders this story is that of a poet. This beautiful, compassionately imagined book will bring a pang of recognition to anyone who has traveled to young adulthood from a wounded adolescence via the quest for perfection. —MERYL STREEP Read more