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Suleika Jaouad had just graduated from Princeton and moved to Paris to chase a career as a war correspondent when a persistent itch turned out to be the first sign of acute myeloid leukemia. She was 22, given a 35 percent chance of long-term survival, and began writing about it from her hospital bed — first a blog, then an Emmy Award-winning New York Times column called Life, Interrupted. That writing became Between Two Kingdoms, her 2021 memoir and New York Times bestseller. The cancer has returned more than once since then, including in 2021 and again in 2024, and she has undergone two bone marrow transplants; she now describes herself as managing a chronic illness rather than counting on a single cure. She is married to musician Jon Batiste, whom she met as a teenager at band camp, and she writes The Isolation Journals, a newsletter and creative community that grew into her second book, The Book of Alchemy, in 2025.
By Lisanne Swart · 2 books · Memoir & Creativity · Memoirs & Biographies · Resilience · Self-Improvement · Every Woman Should Read · Updated July 2026
MemoirCore book
Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted
Jaouad’s debut memoir opens just after her Princeton graduation, when she moves to Paris to chase a career as a war correspondent and instead finds herself diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia at 22, given a 35 percent chance of survival. The book’s first half covers four years of chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, and the collapse of her long-term relationship with her caregiver boyfriend, referred to in the book as “Will.” Its second half follows the cross-country road trip she takes afterward, meeting strangers who had written to her during treatment.
Jaouad’s central insight — that “the hardest part of my cancer experience began once the cancer was gone” — is what separates this from a straightforward survival narrative. It’s as much about the disorienting work of rebuilding an interrupted life as it is about the illness itself.
Creativity · CraftCore book
The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life
Grown out of The Isolation Journals, the journaling newsletter and creative community Jaouad launched in 2020, this book gathers essays and writing prompts from contributors including Jon Batiste, Salman Rushdie, Gloria Steinem, and George Saunders, alongside Jaouad’s own reflections on journaling as a tool that carried her through illness and uncertainty. It was named an NPR Best Book of the Year.
A practical companion rather than a second memoir — useful if Between Two Kingdoms left you wanting a concrete practice of your own, not just Jaouad’s account of hers.
Where to start with Suleika Jaouad
If you have never read her
→ Start with Between Two Kingdoms. It’s the memoir her reputation rests on, and it sets up everything The Book of Alchemy builds from.
If you want a practice, not just a story
→ The Book of Alchemy gives you prompts and contributions from other writers, meant to be used rather than only read.
If illness, recovery, and rebuilding a life afterward are what you’re here for
→ My books about resilience list has more writers in the same register.
If it’s the creative-practice angle you want more of
→ My best self-improvement books list has more in that vein.
Looking for what else I recommend
→ Every book I’ve personally reviewed lives on my bookshelf.
Frequently asked questions about Suleika Jaouad’s books
More from the shelf
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Best Memoirs and Biographies
Lives worth reading in full.
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Books About Resilience
Getting back up, in print.
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Best Self-Improvement Books
For rebuilding, deliberately.
Reading list
Best Books Every Woman Should Read
Essential reading, no exceptions.
On my shelf
My Bookshelf — Book Recommendations
Every book I have personally reviewed, in one place.
