Bittersweet

Sometimes the life we have constructed needs to fall apart before we can begin the process of making something better. After his first marriage ended, Philip Lee found himself living with his younger brother in an old fisherman’s house by the sea, trying to restore some order to the wreckage of his life. It was a dark year of rain-bucket showers, blowtorch espresso, and abandoned renovation projects. They were bachelors in every sense of the word.

With wit, warmth, and sensitivity, Philip Lee writes about this dark year, the struggle to rebuild his life and family and his rediscovery of love’s possibilities. Lee’s journey takes him from the coastlines of Eastern Canada to the cities of China and the Greek island of Naxos. Cutting to the heart of the matter, he explores how it is that we might lift ourselves up through the great work of love.

AUTHOR

Philip Lee

A journalist, lecturer, and bestselling writer, Philip Lee began his career as an investigative reporter on Canada’s east coast. Restigouche emerged from his long-standing interest in rivers and the people who love them. His first book, Home Pool: The Fight to Save the Atlantic Salmon, grew out of his award-winning reporting on the decline of the Atlantic salmon. Lee is also the author of Frank: The Life and Politics of Frank McKenna, a national bestseller, and Bittersweet: Confessions of a Twice-Married Man, which was long-listed for the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction.

A professor at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, Lee developed the Dalton Camp lecture series, broadcast annually by CBC Radio’s Ideas and edited The Next Big Thing (a published collection from the lectures). When he is not writing and teaching, Lee spends as much time as he can following the currents of rivers.

Reviews

This book is a crow’s nest view of Philip Lee’s personal odyssey through the tortured aftermath of divorce, turbulent channels of self discovery, and estuaries of self-realization. Not that the odd squall doesn’t blow in. Philip Lee weathers “the dark year” — a year in which two newly divorced brothers rough it in a decrepit summer home devoid of creature comforts. Fuelled by blowtorch-rendered espresso, true love, and a will to shape a better future, Philip Lee tackles his own shortcomings in a bid for happiness: the ultimate grail.

With wry wit, warmth, and sensitivity, Lee shares a personal journey that takes him from the coastlines of Eastern Canada to the cities of China and the Greek island of Naxos. Cutting to the heart of the matter, he explores how it is that we might lift ourselves up through the great work of love.

“If you’re interested in a journalist’s exploration of marriage and relationships, written in a style so personable that you’ll wish you could have the author and his whole family over for dinner, I highly recommend giving Bittersweet a try.”
– Worducopia

“Beautifully written … informative, entertaining and filled with hope… a must read for anyone who has walked through the pain of divorce and the joy of re-discovering love.”
– The Book Club, Halifax

“[Lee’s] often startling vulnerability and openness invites readers to draw from his experience both the assurance that someone else has been where they are and points of departure for their own reflection on loving others.”
– The Daily Gleaner