Against Wind and Tide

The sixth and concluding volume of selected letters and diary entries of the beloved author of Gift from the Sea.Although Anne Morrow Lindbergh published five volumes of letters and diary excerpts in her lifetime, when she died in 2001 there was a treasure trove of material left unpublished. This new volume begins in 1947, as Mrs. Lindbergh is agonizing over whether or not to terminate an unwanted pregnancy (which will eventually end in a miscarriage). We observe the genesis of the idea for the book that became Gift from the Sea, and we follow its hugely successful publication. We are privy to her complicated and sometimes difficult relationship with her beloved but largely absent husband, the aviator Charles Lindbergh, who we now know was spending time with secret common-law families in Europe. We watch as she struggles to balance caring for her children and her writing career, and we listen in as she comments on events of the day. She is...