The literary world already anticipated Elizabeth Gilbert’s latest memoir would dominate reading lists this fall. Now, Oprah Winfrey has guaranteed it.
Winfrey announced that All the Way to the River is her September pick for Oprah’s Book Club, calling the work “raw, unflinching, and deeply healing.” The memoir marks the 118th selection for the famed book club, which has launched dozens of titles into bestseller status.
Best known for her 2006 global phenomenon Eat Pray Love, Gilbert turns inward in this new work, reflecting on grief, codependency, and enduring love in the wake of losing her best friend and partner, musician and hairdresser Rayya Elias. Gilbert realized she was in love with Elias after Elias was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The two shared a private “ceremony of love” in 2017 before Elias died the following year.
Far from the globe-trotting escapades that defined Eat Pray Love, All the Way to the River is an intimate meditation on addiction, vulnerability, and devotion. It candidly portrays Elias’ struggles with substance abuse as well as Gilbert’s own battles with sex and love addiction.
“With Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert started a movement,” Winfrey said in a statement. “This new memoir is just as powerful. She bares her soul, and by sharing her truth so openly, she offers readers the courage to face their own.”
Gilbert admitted she was floored when Winfrey personally called to deliver the news. “I thought I was going to be talking to my editor about book business,” Gilbert said. “Instead, when I picked up the phone, there was that unmistakable voice, Ms. Winfrey herself, saying she loved my memoir and believed it would ‘set people free.’ The honor is astonishing and extraordinary.”
Gilbert’s literary career spans memoir, fiction, and self-help. After Eat Pray Love was adapted into a 2010 film starring Julia Roberts, Gilbert went on to publish Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, the self-help book Big Magic, and novels including City of Girls and The Signature of All Things.
With Oprah’s seal of approval, All the Way to the River is poised to become Gilbert’s most impactful—and personal—work yet.
