First, We Make the Beast Beautiful

March 5, 2018
Journalist Wilson (I Quit Sugar) borrows the title of this uplifting, earnest memoir from a Chinese proverb on the theme of acceptance: using one’s anxiety to find purpose, she believes, can make life beautiful. Wilson, one of seven siblings who grew up poor in the Australian bush outside of Canberra, suffered from anxiety for years (as well as from OCD, bipolar disorder, and Hashimoto’s, a disease of the thyroid) and here explores the condition from many angles, meandering, as she explains, “through disciplines and between polemic, didactic and memoir.” In the opening chapter, Wilson asks the Dalai Lama how to stop the internal “fretty chatter that makes us so nervous” (“There’s no use,” he says. “Impossible”). Later, she observes that the “correlation between creative contribution... and anxiety is well documented.” She offers simple tricks and practices throughout the book to reduce anxiety, including making one’s bed every morning and learning to meditate. Wilson also points out that anxiety can have some benefits: anxious folks, for instance, tend to be good planners. Amusing, practical, and filled with delightful asides, this book will appeal to anxiety-prone readers, who will find much to calm them in these pages. Agent: Stacy Testa, Writers House.

February 2, 2017
Sarah Wilson is a journalist, editor, TV presenter and the bestselling author of I Quit Sugar. In her new book, she explores the anxiety disorder that turned her life upside down—and anxiety more generally. As Wilson writes, ‘this book doesn’t take a linear path to salvation’. Instead it meanders through science, psychology, anecdotes and advice. Quotes and advice from wellbeing gurus—it opens with Wilson meeting the Dalai Lama—sit comfortably alongside etymology, case studies and blog comments. Wilson’s chatty, honest style ties it all together and guides the reader through the various threads. While this book is completely different from her ‘Sugar’ books, it will appeal to existing fans who are interested in wellbeing, as well as introducing her philosophy to a wider audience. It includes tips for anxiety sufferers from little things to do in anxious moments to big lifestyle changes. Like the rest of the book, they are accessible and interesting and will be helpful not only for chronic sufferers but anyone who wants to quiet the clamouring voices in their mind. With First We Make the Beast Beautiful, Wilson draws on a wide range of material to create a fascinatingly broad yet personal addition to the wellbeing category. Fay Helfenbaum is a freelance editor and former bookseller