Sarah Hepola’s Blackout, and 4 More Inspiring Books About Recovery

Since its publication this summer, Salon editor Sarah Hepola’s Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget has garnered tons of acclaim. The memoir details Hepola’s lifelong relationship with alcohol, using equal parts gut-wrenching honesty and wry, biting humor. Hepola takes the reader along as she faces her most terrifying demons and emerges from the battle wiser, stronger, and more truly herself. As anyone who has struggled with recovery knows, the journey is long and the going tough—but the payoff is beyond measure. Whether we struggle with addiction or some other inner conflict, we can all use a little inspiration from time to time. The novels below embolden us to stare down our fears and live the lives we deserve.

Drinking: A Love Story, by Caroline Knapp
Blackout contains several references to its forebear, Drinking: A Love Story—and for good reason. This book is widely hailed as a bible for those contemplating recovery. Knapp’s narrative is best described as a spiral: making its way from the longing for just one after-work drink, to the blissful high of a two-drink buzz, to the sickening pall of a hellish, regret-drenched hangover and back again (and again, and again). In this way, the reader truly comes to understand the metaphor evoked by the title. For an addict, the relationship with the drug of choice is always an abusive one, that comes with baggage. As heartrending as it is to see Knapp’s descent into alcoholic hell, it’s even more galvanizing to share in her journey as she faces the stark reality of her addiction. With the help of rehab and the 12-step community, Knapp reclaims her life one triumph at a time. Just as Hepola’s memoir does, this book sheds light on the fascinating social and cultural factors that shape the modern woman’s relationship with alcohol—as well the way in which she conquers an addiction to it.

Dry: A Memoir, by Augusten Burroughs
To anyone who has struggled with binge-drinking, Dry opens in a familiar place. Imagine that moment when you should go home, but don’t. It’s just one more drink, after all. Until, that is, the next morning sneaks up on you like a freight train, and you have to juggle your pounding head and dry mouth with that thing you used to care about called your job. The worst part? Absolutely no one is fooled—except you, of course. You think you’re juggling things pretty well, until someone inconveniently draws attention to the deluge of dropped balls in your wake. One such moment is the beginning of the end of Burroughs’ drinking, but his addiction will not go down without a fight—his alcoholism renders him a near recluse before it’s through. Luckily, as anyone who has read Running With Scissors knows, Burroughs is brimming with tenacity, resilience, and good humor. It’s a good thing, too—he’ll need every ounce of those qualities to break free from the cage of substance abuse.

Lit, by Mary Karr
Bestselling memoirist Karr’s addiction story is particularly focused on motherhood. Specifically, the ways in which her complicated relationship with her own mother set the stage for the self-doubt that would plague her throughout adolescence and adulthood. Enter alcohol, which promises to deliver Karr from her fear of inadequacy as a wife, mother, and human being. Instead, it systematically strips her of her self-love as well as the joy she longs to find in her relationships with her husband and son. The healing that takes place when Karr finally accepts her need to get well is profound, and features a strong spiritual component that will resonate deeply with many addiction survivors.

A Drinking Life: A Memoir, by Pete Hamill
There’s no better treatise on the role alcohol plays in American society than Hamill’s memoir. A native New Yorker, he brings working-class Big Apple culture of the mid-twentieth century to roaring life with every page. Through his childhood during the Depression and the Second World War to his heyday in the wild and carefree 1960s, Hamill learned that real men drank. A lot. And, if they sometimes forgot what happened the night before, missed a deadline here or there, or lost a friend or five, well, that was the price of doing business. The memoir builds steam steadily as Hamill’s addiction threatens to rob him blind if he doesn’t give up drink for good. Laced with bittersweet emotion, this book will leave you with a full heart and a fearless resolve to live life to its fullest.