By clicking “Accept,” you agree to the use of cookies and similar technologies on your device as set forth in our Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy. Please note that certain cookies are essential for this website to function properly and do not require user consent to be deployed.

The Bag Lady Papers

The Priceless Experience of Losing It All

Contributors

By Alexandra Penney

Formats and Prices

Price

$12.99

Price

$16.99 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. ebook $12.99 $16.99 CAD
  2. Hardcover $35.00 $45.00 CAD

This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around February 16, 2010. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

In December 2008, my worst nightmare came true . . . How do you pick yourself up after the one thing you most feared happens to you? Alexandra Penney’s revealing, spirited, and ultimately redemptive true story shows us how. Throughout her life, Alexandra Penney’s worst fear was of becoming a bag lady. Even as she worked several jobs while raising a son as a single mother, wrote a bestselling advice book, and became editor in chief of Self magazine, she was haunted by the image of herself alone, bankrupt, and living on the street. She even went to therapy in an attempt to alleviate the worry that all she had worked for could crumble. And then, one day, that’s exactly what happened. Penney had taken a friend’s advice and invested nearly everything she had ever earned–all of her savings–with Bernie Madoff. One day she was successful and wealthy; the next she had almost nothing. Suddenly, at an age when many Americans retire, Penney saw her worst nightmares coming true. Based on her popular blog posts on The Daily Beast, this memoir chronicles Penney’s struggle to cope with the devastating financial and emotional fallout of being cheated out of her life savings and illuminates her journey back to sanity, solvency, and security. “I will work harder than I ever have before–which was pretty hard indeed–and see what happens. I have the feeling something good will come of it: tough, challenging work and laserlike focus have always paid off for me. . . . Was it better to have it and then lose it? Yes, yes, yes! Even though I lived with horrible bag lady fears of losing it all, now that those financial fears have materialized, I’m in pretty good shape and looking to what’s next. Experiences — good and bad, exciting and boring, tragic and absurd — make up a life. Not to have lived to the fullest is the saddest, most irresponsible life I can think of.”
— from The Bag Lady Papers

On Sale
Feb 16, 2010
Page Count
240 pages
Publisher
Hachette Books
ISBN-13
9781401394998

Alexandra Penney

About the Author

Alexandra Penney is an artist, best-selling author, and former editor-in-chief of Self magazine. She had a one-person show at Galerie in Berlin and her work was shown at Miami’s Art Basel. She lives in New York.

Learn more about this author