When it was first published in 1998, At Home in the World set off a furor in the literary world and beyond. Joyce Maynard's memoir broke a silence concerning her relationship--at age eighteen--with the famously reclusive author J.D. Salinger, then age fifty-three, who had read a story she wrote for The New York Times in her freshman year of college and sent her a letter that changed her life. With what some have viewed as shocking honesty, Maynard explores her coming of age in an alcoholic family, her mother's dream to mold her into a writer, her self-imposed exile from the world of her peers when she left Yale to live with Salinger, and her struggle to reclaim her self of sense in the crushing aftermath of his dismissal of her not long after her nineteenth birthday. A quarter of a century later--having become a writer, survived the end of her marriage and the deaths of her parents, and with an eighteen-year-old daughter of her own--Maynard pays a visit to the man who broke her heart. The story she tells--of the girl she was and the woman she became--is at once devastating, inspiring, and triumphant. “Riveting and disturbing.” ― Katha Pollitt, The New York Times Book Review “Dazzling. Absorbing, funny, and emotionally blistering.” ―Jules Siegel, San Francisco Chronicle “Even Salinger loyalists may feel compelled to reexamine their idol.” ―Sara Nelson, Glamour “Unsparing self-scrutiny. . .Maturity and emotional candor.” ―Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “A wry, painful, engaging book.” ―Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes “Maynard's testimony is priceless.” ―Mary Cantwell, Vogue "Riveting and disturbing." --Katha Pollitt, The New York Times Book Review "Dazzling." --Jules Siegel, The San Francisco Chronicle "Even Salinger loyalists may feel compelled to reexamine their idol." --Sara Nelson, Glamour "Brilliant! At Home in the World reads like a thriller. Maynard has written a poignant, deep memoir. Wonderful, compelling, honest, and right on target." --Jeffrey M. Masson, author of Dogs Never Lie About Love and When Elephants Weep " At Home in the World reads like a companion piece to Mary Pipher's Reviving Ophelia , a study of the painful and crosswired contradictions that still plague ambitious girls." --Chris Kraus, The Nation "Ms. Maynard writes in this volume with a sort of double vision, recreating the girl and young woman she was while at the same time looking at that younger self through the retrospective lens of middle age." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "Absorbing, funny and emotionally blistering. Clear, eloquent and unpretentious, At Home in the World demands reading for the astounding pleasure to be found in a writer who has the courage to show herself inside out." --Jules Siegel, The San Francisco Chronicle "A wry, painful, engaging book." --Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes "Maynard's testimony is priceless." --Mary Cantwell, Vogue "Maynard has an interesting and disturbing story to tell, and she tells it simply but vividly." --Marion Winik, Newsday "Powerful." --Larissa MacFarquhar, The New York Times Magazine Joyce Maynard was born and raised in New Hampshire. She is the author of several books, includin g To Die For, Where Love Goes, Domestic Affairs, Baby Talk, and her memoir Looking Back, which she wrote at the age of eighteen. Joyce Maynard has written for many national publications, including The New York Times Magazine , Parenting and Good Housekeeping . She lives in Mill Valley, California, with her three children. Joyce Maynard memoir author