From the Foreword of The Great Belonging

Here are a few words from the foreword of The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. I’m still honored to have my friend Lauren Winner write the foreword for this book.

The book you are holding does not aim to cure your loneliness. Instead, The Great Belonging addresses loneliness as a companion. As you would with any companion, The Great Belonging inquires into loneliness—into loneliness’s history, and habits, and fears. And in the company of The Great Belonging’s fearless and smart author, Charlotte Donlon, we, the readers, are allowed to indulge our interest in loneliness.

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Charlotte Donlon helps her readers and clients notice how they belong to themselves, others, God, and the world. Charlotte is a writer, a spiritual director, and the founder of Spiritual Direction for Writers®, Spiritual Direction for Belonging™, and Parenting with Art™. Her essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. She’s currently writing her next book, Spiritual Direction for Writers, which will be published by Eerdmans in 2024.