A Tender Meditation on Time, Mortality, and Sacred Purpose

What if the moments that break us could also be the ones that open us up?

Award-winning journalist and former oncology nurse Barbara Mahany has spent her life paying attention to fragile things—bodies, stories, the space between fear and hope. Then a rare cancer diagnosis made her turn that attention on herself. Against all odds, a diagnosis that should have constricted her life instead cracked it wide open.

Mahany writes of waking to find a sinkhole beneath her ribcage. Of 3:00 a.m. terror, not knowing how many mornings are left. Of her husband and sons. Of every slant of light that draws her deeper into the presence of God. In lush, lyrical prose steeped in sensory detail, Broken Open is unsentimental and tender, clear-eyed and contemplative—a book that trusts you with the truth and hands you back hope.

Here is hard-won wisdom for anyone gutted by illness, loss, or the plain fact of their time on earth running out: that on the other side of the breaking is not just grief but also gratitude.

“Mahany writes with tenderness and truth. She is a trustable companion, a stylist of intricacy, and a poet of the heart. This is a beautiful book.”

—Pádraig Ó Tuama, host of Poetry Unbound

“Mahany’s writing offers the exquisite gift of inviting both wonder and holding the wound in a loving embrace. Highly recommended.”

—Christine Valters Paintner, author of the poetry collection What Enters Through the Open Heart

Barbara Mahany is a former staff writer for The Chicago Tribune, where she worked for nearly thirty years, and a former pediatric oncology nurse at Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital. Her books include The Book of Nature and Slowing Time. Mahany’s work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and On Being.

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Endorsements for Inside Page

“Barbara Mahany’s Broken Open is much more than a book about suffering and anguish. It is ultimately a story of hope, a wise and generous meditation on what it means to be awakened to the gifts of this life. As I lingered with the pages of this remarkable account, I came to realize that this is more than just a book. It is a treasure, a precious talisman to carry in facing the uncertainty of this life. Her story invites us into her conversation with a wide-ranging chorus of ‘mystics, prophets, and plain folk’ who help us see that ‘beauty and whimsy and, most of all, undying love are the holy ingredients that will carry us through—no matter what cracks us wide open.’ This is a book to ponder, not for a season but for a lifetime, one whose epiphanies invite us to embrace our lives with courage, gratitude, and joy.”

—Mark S. Burrows, coauthor of You Are the Future: Living the Questions with Rainer Maria Rilke and Meister Eckhart: Inside the Heart of a Mystic

“If you once held certitude in your hands and now look at the emptiness that certitude left behind, wondering how to hold yourself together through unpredictable experiences (times, health, politics), then Barbara Mahany’s Broken Open is for you. She makes no promises. She writes with tenderness and truth. She does not blunt the sharp edges of uninvited and unexpected lessons. In all of this, Mahany is a trustable companion, a stylist of intricacy, and a poet of the heart. This is a beautiful book.”

—Pádraig Ó Tuama, host of Poetry Unbound

“Barbara Mahany’s account of her experience with cancer is a beautifully written narrative that helps all of us to savor life’s gifts while also holding space for the griefs that inevitably descend, whether or not we are ill. Her writing offers the exquisite gift of inviting both wonder and holding the wound in a loving embrace. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to cultivate the capacity to see with new eyes.”

—Christine Valters Paintner, author of the poetry collection What Enters Through the Open Heart