A Life of One’s Own by Joanna Biggs (Review by Stephanie Rowitz)

Rating: 4/5

Joanna Biggs is a woman who finds herself at a crossroads in her life: should she stay in her unhappy marriage, or should she let go and embark on a journey to find herself again? If the title of the book is any indication, you probably already know which way Joanna chooses to go.

Through her divorce and several other difficult periods in her life, like her mother battling Alzheimer’s, Joanna finds comfort in the stories of Mary Wollstonecraft, George Eliot, Zora Neale Hurston, Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir, Sylvia Plath, Toni Morrison, and Elena Ferrante. Through the inspiring stories of these women, Joanna slowly puts one foot in front of the other and learns how to cultivate a life she can be proud of. She learns how to let go, embrace the uncertainty, and build a life of her own.

I really enjoyed reading about the lives of these famous writers and how they were able to begin again after the death of loved ones, divorce, and other hardships. These women didn’t always have happy lives, but they were able to find the good where they could and roll with the punches when there wasn’t any good to be found. If you find yourself at a difficult time in your life and are looking for some direction, this book might be a useful guide for you. And even if you don’t find yourself at a critical point in your life like Joanna, you will still learn a lot from these women about how to carve out a place in the world for yourself.

Part collective biography, part autobiography, A Life of One’s Own is a thoughtful exploration of the expectations of women, how to live within the confines of domesticity or how to fight against it, and how to find your voice amidst the chaos. A deeply introspective novel that will stay with you long after the last page.