On our bookshelf

May 20, 2009 | Print

The Comeback: Seven Stories of Women Who Went from Career to Family and Back Again

Highlights: The Comeback: Seven Stories of Women Who Went from Career to Family and Back Again is an honest, open look at women making choices about work and family.

Journalist Emma Gilbey Keller (married to the Editor of the New York Times) shares her own path from career to kids and back to career on her own terms, then relates the challenges and successes of seven other women who’ve navigated marriages, kids and work lives.

The women all find jobs and support through the communities they create as mothers. Their husbands contribute to caring for the children in varying degrees, and the women go through different stages of intensity and creativity in their careers. The Comeback is best in its portrayal of original lives, how women decide what’s important to them and their particular families, pursue their dream jobs, and find success in compromise–or if not, make a change.

Lowlights: Not so much lowlights in the book, but reflective of our culture–Keller’s loss of confidence and sense she has nothing interesting to say at dinner parties when she stops working to stay at home, and the exhaustion some of the women suffer as they struggle to work and parent.

Why we like it: We’re inspired by these stories of reinvention, especially from the space of having young kids and wondering about the future. The marriage dynamics are interesting–as well as Keller’s conversations with the children (now adults and teenagers) about their perspectives of their family life.

Child’s age: For parents of all ages.

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