Books like Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad

After a promising start as a prospective war correspondent, Suleika Jaouad’s life takes an unexpected turn when she is diagnosed with leukemia at 22. Facing a bleak 35% survival rate, she endures years of treatment—including chemotherapy, a clinical trial, and a bone marrow transplant—while writing a New York Times column that offers a raw, intimate view of her struggle. When her doctors declare her cured, Jaouad realizes healing extends beyond medical treatment. She embarks on a 100‑day, 15,000‑mile journey across the United States—guided by her terrier, Oscar—to meet people who have written to her in the hospital. Through encounters with a teenage cancer survivor, a grieving teacher, and a death‑row inmate, she discovers that the divide between ill and healthy is porous, and that survival is only the beginning of a new chapter of living.

First publish date: 2020