Jen Hatmaker Announces New Memoir "Awake:" “This Is Not Just a Sad Story”

Bestselling author, speaker, and podcast host Jen Hatmaker today releases her most personal work yet, Awake: A Memoir (Simon & Schuster). In this deeply vulnerable and unflinchingly honest narrative, Hatmaker invites readers into the forty-year journey that has shaped her life, faith, and identity-offering a story that is as hopeful as it is heartbreaking.

Known for her candor, wit, and ability to connect with readers in moments of both joy and struggle, Hatmaker confronts a turning point that upended her world: the unraveling of her 26-year marriage. In Awake, she chronicles the devastation of betrayal and loss but insists this is not simply a story of sadness. Instead, it is one of resilience, renewal, and discovery.

"This is not just a sad story," Hatmaker says. "It's a story about being wide-eyed to the truth, about grief and growth, about questioning everything you thought you knew and finding new ground to stand on. I didn't write it as a manual, but as a witness to what healing and freedom can look like after heartbreak."

Through vivid, real-time vignettes, Hatmaker traces her journey from the quiet certainties of early faith and family life to the upheaval of disorientation, and finally, to the awakening of new possibilities. Along the way, she explores the systems that shaped her-from religion to culture to gender roles-and how breaking free has opened the door to authenticity, hope, and joy.

Far more than a memoir of loss, Awake is an anthem of courage and a testament to the enduring human spirit. Readers who have known pain, transition, or the shock of starting over will find themselves in Hatmaker's words, discovering that even in the ashes, beauty and freedom remain possible.

Awake: A Memoir is available now wherever books are sold.

Hatmaker is the New York Times bestselling author of For the Love and Of Mess and Moxie, host of the award-winning podcast For the Love, and a sought-after speaker known for her humor, warmth, and fearless honesty. She lives in Austin, Texas, where she is also a mom to five children and a proud advocate for justice, authenticity, and belonging.

 

 

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