On the Wings of the Hummingbird: A Chronicle of Joy, Grief, and Gratitude

A penetrating, unflinching collection of essays, chronicling one writer's unswerving search for—and embrace of—joy, even amid the deep grief of a beloved's suicide, and her own diagnosis of ovarian cancer and the grueling treatments that followed. Mary Ellen Sullivan, a self-described nomad, was a natural-born circumnavigator, a wise and elegant writer at home trekking the globe, one who mapped her way purely by instinct—and heart. Sullivan’s joy-seeking chronicle, originally a blog titled "On the Wings of the Hummingbird," unspooled as a pastiche of ponderous thoughts, serendipitous moments captured in words or image, peppered with wisdom-steeped quotes or poems or passages that had caught her attention: an instructional of intentional joy. It became a four-year exercise, a wide-eyed adventure in joy capturing. She followed her trail wherever it led. Her words, her instructions for seizing gratitude in the grace of each and every day, shimmer off the page. Her wisdom, her radiance, will open your eyes and your heart, and leave you more alive to the abundance of blessing all around you.