Gift from the Sea (Reissue) (12/31/90) - By Anne Morrow Lindbergh

What a lovely and timeless book. Anne Morrow Lindbergh enjoys two weeks of solitude on an island off of Florida (I so want to do that.). During her time there, she walked the shoreline and collected various shells. With each shell, she explores a woman’s life in transition--of women trying, and needing, to rediscover their center.

Lindbergh reminds us to slow down. She suggests that women are pulled in so many different directions with ever-widening circles of contact and communication that we tend to lose our center. She urges us to get away from the busyness of life and spend some time alone.

“But I want first of all . . . to be at peace with myself. I want a singleness of eye, a purity of intention, a central core to my life that will enable me to carry out these obligations and activities as well as I can.”

“Only when one is connected to one’s own core is one connected to others.”

There is much wisdom in Gift from the Sea--wisdom that will touch women of all ages in different ways. Even Lindbergh herself ends the book with a short chapter written 20 years after she wrote the essays. She reflects on her work and the changes in her life with new eyes.

Lindbergh has written such a beautiful exploration of women’s souls that I will recommend it to all my friends. It is meant to be read again and again.

Beautiful poetic writing with messages for women and mothers that still ring true today. I found comfort in Lindbergh's perspective and thoughts on our relationships with others, the world at large, and the relationship we have with ourselves.

I found many sentences that could have been written today. Here we are 60 years later and this book still speaks to the issues men and women face. We are no closer to the answers. The questions are still with us. A brilliant summary of the problems faced in modern life. No cure but a program to live by.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, wife of the famous transatlantic pilot, suffered the tragic loss of her baby who was kidnapped and murdered in about 1933. That may be the basis of Anne's deeply introspective reflections, but it's not subject of her book. Her meditations and quiet moments on the seashore inspire a re-evaluation of the simple objects of life. Her analogies of the sand, the shells, and the surf -- as they apply to man's existence -- are without parallel.

Anne Morrow Lindberg was a well-educated, highly intelligent person, a gifted writer, and a poet par excellence. She was a loyal and loving yet subservient wife, a wonderful mother, and an accomplished pilot, navigator, and adventurist. She also had quite a story to tell herself and to be told by others.

I have seen the movie depictions, read the books about her super hero husband, and most recently read a wonderful historical fiction work by Melanie Benjamin, The Aviator's Wife that filled in numerous voids in what the public knows about the intimacies and facts surrounding the Lindbergs, fictional though some of it may be.

All these literary glimpses and silver screen journeys into the private lives of the not so private first family of aviation encouraged me to read Gift from the Sea. Anne Morrow Lindberg was not the first or only woman to suffer, sacrifice, and take up her dutiful place in the shadow of a powerful and influential husband and remain quiet and unimposing up to a point. But she is unique in the fact that she has allowed a look into her mind, heart, and soul through her own works.

Gift from the Sea is a treasure to be appreciated slowly and repeatedly because one fast read will not disclose the wonders and beauties of the great pearl formed through the tragedies, irritations, heartbreak, and disappointments that deposited themselves in the oyster of Anne's life.

What does a woman subordinated to the egotistical needs and demands of the most famous man in the world, with a vision the size of that world need, want, and dream of in the mature years of her life. Her repayment for years of dedicated service and seemingly unrequited love for a man with an agenda was to betrayal and placed second, third, or fourth in line of her dear, sweet husband and his other lovers and mothers of his illegitimate children.

Alone on a beach, in a small cottage, walking along the shoreline with only the gentle rolling surf and waves lapping at the sand to speak to her, Anne finds that she resonates with the beauty, utility, freedom, and natural splendor of the vacated sea shells that she finds. A variety of colorful and gracefully designed shells speak different messages to her soul. And she shares those musings with the readers.

The past will not change, the present is being formed in the crucible of her life already lived and the decisions she will make based on where and who she's been. Anne spoke out to the myriad women of the world who could say to and about her life experiences "Amen Sister, speak it, preach it." And preach it she did.

Read Gift from the Sea once, put it down and go back again and again. Almost as if the shells are magic the message matures and morphs with age and the frame of mind of the reader at the time of the read. It's a small book, but it contains a wealth of spiritual jewels for the seeker.

As a male, I recommend this book to both men and women with the suggestion that oftentimes women are better at sharing their heart than are men.

I agree with Anne's daughter Reeve that re-reading the book brings renewed blessings originally penned in 1955 but are still relevant in 2013.

it is a wonderful book. Everyone, Man, woman it doesn't matter. This is a MUST read book and I really am not one to have the patience to sit down and read a whole book, but I actually read it in one day and have re-read it many times Do yourself a favor and read this book.

The title of my review is too restrictive because every woman should read this book, those who have sat on a beach and contemplated life and those who have done their contemplating at a kitchen table, during a run, or while lying in bed. This story--these lessons--will speak to you. They will speak to women differently at different stages of her life and for that reason this book should be read and read again later in life.

I attended a friends wedding in the Summer and the bides father read an excerpt from the book "Gift from the Sea". I fell in love with the book right away because what the writer said was so true. I requested for the author and soon as i got back I bought the book.
You cannot put it down once you start reading. You would think the author is talking to you or knows you.
It is a Must Have! to read and re-read.

Interesting book of journal like entries from Anne Morrow Lindbergh's early life when married to Charles A Lindbergh. I got this book after reading The Aviator's Wife so I could see what she herself had to say about marriage and CAL.

Beautiful book which will leave you thinking. It's exquisitely written, and timeless.

When you need a gift, but are not sure exactly what to buy, this can often be a great option. I've sent it to many friends who have been thrilled with it.

Enjoy!

After reading The Aviator's wife, I wanted to delve a little into the real life writings Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I think the author of the fictional account gave a very realistic portrayal of Anne's beliefs and life with her famous husband. The Gift of the Sea certainly reiterated the thoughtful life Anne had and her description of the stages in a marriage relationship ring true even today.

I thought I would just read through this book after I read The Aviator's Wife. After the first two essays, I realized this is a book worth keeping, and that if I read each essay carefully, one at a time then closed the book, I had much to think about how I could apply her thoughts to my life. A real treasure I have recommended to friends.

I learned more from this little book than any other thing I have tried to learn about change. I will now be buying the paper version and read it again and again. And I feel like I've been on vacation with her.