Coping with Freedom

Sound Bite

Single, and loving it! In this approachable essay on personal freedom without guilt, Chantal Thomas alternates between self-examination and investigations into love, travel and living arrangements. Drawing on immediate experience and literary and historical references. she shares the lyrical pleasure that can come from sitting alone in a café, living in a room of one’s own, or simply not having children. She evokes Sade and Casanova, Thoreau and Sartre, existentialism and feminism, crafting a personal philosophy that goes beyond the most essential “self-help” theories. Her precious volume gives homage to independence - to its insolence, its power of detachment, its quality of otherness.

About the Book

An approachable essay on personal freedom, this lively book is inspired by the author's own 20 th century life experience as well as 18th century philosophers, and literary and historical references.How can we catch those ephemeral moments when the bold breeze of independence fills our hearts? This book offers insights and courage to help us revel in the game of life, the urge to laugh, the delight of reading, the art of the journey, and the right to say "no" to chains of obligations and family ties. It's a subtle handbook on how to cherish these sensations, so fragile and yet so essential to our personal liberty.40 Million American women of marriageable age are single. This book addresses many of their concerns, in a profound and delightful way.Echoing the anxieties of existentialism as much as the most essential "self-help" theories, this precious volume gives homage to a life of independence.