Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Bittersweet

  • How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole
  • By: Susan Cain
  • Narrated by: Susan Cain
  • Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (184 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Bittersweet cover art

Bittersweet

By: Susan Cain
Narrated by: Susan Cain
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Power of Suffering cover art
The Lightmaker's Manifesto cover art
Between the Listening and the Telling cover art
21 Things You Forgot About Being a Kid cover art
Childless Living cover art
Braiding Sweetgrass cover art
The Unspeakable Loss cover art
Fully Human cover art
No Endings, Only Beginnings cover art
Die Wise cover art
Cassandra Speaks cover art
The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible cover art
Deep Human Connection cover art
The Top Five Regrets of the Dying cover art
The Covenant of Water cover art
Your Soul's Plan cover art

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

From the author of the international mega-seller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking.

In this inspiring masterpiece, best-selling author Susan Cain shows the power of 'bittersweetness'—a tendency towards sorrow and longing, an acute awareness of passing time and a piercing joy when beholding beauty. But what are the powers of a bittersweet, melancholic outlook?, she asks. And why has our culture been so blind to its value?

Bittersweetness recognises that light and dark, birth and death—bitter and sweet—are forever paired. As Bittersweet shows, our obsession with happiness is not making us happy, healthy or whole. It's only by embracing our darker emotions—as well as the light—that we discover our deepest meaning and connection, love and joy. It can change the way we work, the way we create and the way we love—for it is the hidden source of our love stories, moonshots and masterpieces.

With over four million copies sold worldwide, Susan Cain's Quiet explored the quiet riches of the introverted half of the population. In Bittersweet, Cain employs the same mix of research, storytelling and memoir. Following a trail of centuries-old artistic and wisdom traditions as well as contemporary psychology and management research, and reflecting on the emotional shifts of recent times, Cain reveals how bittersweetness is the key to leading a full and satisfying life. Using examples ranging from music and cinema to parenting and business, she shows how understanding bittersweetness will allow us to weather life's transitions; yet, until now, its power has been hiding in plain sight.

At a time of profound discord and personal anxiety, Bittersweet brings us together in deep and unexpected ways. Most of all, it shows us how to transform our personal and collective pain into creativity, transcendence and connection.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Susan Cain (P)2022 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about Bittersweet

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    131
  • 4 Stars
    37
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    130
  • 4 Stars
    16
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    109
  • 4 Stars
    30
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Exquisitely beautiful

This book resonates so deeply. It is the most meaningful work I have listened to in a very long time. As a writer myself, I can only feel grateful to have found it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful, moving and helpful

I come from a family torn apart by grief and the silence of that grief became pervasive in my own life in so many ways. Thank you for this book. it has been beautiful. Healing can be tough sometimes. I am going to ask my parents to tell me their stories and I'm going to consider that question of longing in my own life. x

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

This book speaks to your soul

Beautifully written and narrated.
A powerful and poignant journey and one that I will return to every time my soul needs nurturing.
In fact, I’ve listened to it twice already ❤️

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

So beautiful

I enjoyed this book so much that I listened to it again directly after finishing it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Utterly brilliant

This was absolutely beautiful. This book has changed my life. Thankyou Susan it was great.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Such sweet sorrow

As one who lived “Quiet”, the author’s previous work, I was hopeful that this would have a similar level of connection. I was not disappointed. Taking us on a story of love, loss, art and hope, Susan Cain captures that ephemeral quality of longing and bittersweet emotion and gives permission to step into a place of sadness and melancholy to enrich our lives and provide healing and communion.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Profound and heartfelt!!!

intimate, honest, touched deeply. It has been a long lasting wondering of mine, the bittersweet longing and this books answers my questions, soothes and connects. The narration is superb!!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The importance of melancholy

This is a book on the acceptable of feelings and why being authentic is probably the answer.

A thoroughly recommendable read/listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent book

A beautiful book that touches all of us who know that life is both beautiful and terrible and that is what makes life worth living.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Love is what you got

As I listened to this audiobook.I believe that you’d the ability to changed who ever you are.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!