Non­fic­tion

My Wife Said You May Want to Mar­ry Me: A Memoir

  • From the Publisher
September 1, 2019

An inspir­ing mem­oir of life, love, loss and new begin­nings by the wid­ow­er of best­selling children’s author and film­mak­er, Amy Krouse Rosen­thal, whose last of act of love before her death was set­ting the stage for her husband’s life with­out her in a col­umn in The New York Times. On March 3, 2017, Amy Krouse Rosen­thal penned an op-ed piece for The New York Timess Mod­ern Love” col­umn — You May Want to Mar­ry My Hus­band.” It appeared ten days before her death from ovar­i­an can­cer. A heart­break­ing, wry, bru­tal­ly hon­est, and cre­ative play on a per­son­al ad — in which a dying wife encour­aged her hus­band to go on and find hap­pi­ness after her demise — the col­umn quick­ly went viral, reach­ing more than five mil­lion peo­ple world­wide. In My Wife Said You May Want to Mar­ry Me, Jason describes what came next: his com­mit­ment to respect­ing Amy’s wish even as he strug­gled with her loss. Sur­vey­ing his life before, with, and after Amy, Jason rumi­nates on love, the pain of watch­ing a loved one suf­fer, and what it means to heal — how he and their three chil­dren, despite their pro­found sor­row, went on. Jason’s emo­tion­al jour­ney offers insights on dying and death and the excru­ci­at­ing pain of los­ing a soul­mate, and illu­mi­nates the lessons he learned. As he reflects on Amy’s gift to him — a fresh start to fill his emp­ty space with a new sto­ry — Jason describes how he con­tin­ues to hon­or Amy’s life and her last wish and how he seeks to appre­ci­ate every day and live in the moment while try­ing to help oth­ers cop­ing with loss.

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