There are lost weekends—and there are lost decades. Out of the First Person is a memoir of addiction and recovery. It tells the story of my harrowing descent into alcohol addiction. The first drink was from a bottle of gin in the back of a car. The last drink was twenty years later. That drink was taken at a time when I could live neither with or without the craving for alcohol. Out of the First Person is a tumultuous story of betrayal, family crisis, illness and death. But Out of the First Person is a story that ends well. By God's grace, what started out badly concludes in a spiritual transformation. It has been thirty years since that last drink. Out of the First Person offers the insight that recovery from addiction requires a spiritual shift from self-absorption to a selfless way of life. The shift began in my story in the meeting rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous, but this shift commences whenever and wherever we acknowledge the guidance of a power greater than ourselves. Out of the First Person will help women struggling to become sober—sobriety is possible in every life. And Out of the First Person will help women struggling to remain sober—maintaining sobriety is the long first step in changing our lives. Healing is possible at any moment when we let the kindly light lead us from the darkness of self-possession into a life radiant with joy.