Diary of an Alcoholic Housewife
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Narrated by:
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Brenda Wilhelmson
About this listen
"A gripping, firsthand story of personal triumph and recovery by a wealthy American housewife who appeared to have it all but who was, in reality, losing life's most important moments in an alcohol-induced haze." (Hazeldon Betty Ford, publisher)
Brenda Wilhelmson was like a lot of women in her neighborhood. She had a husband and two children. She was educated and made a good living as a writer. She had a vibrant social life with a tight circle of friends. She could party until dawn and take her children to school the next day. From the outside, she appeared to have it all together. But, in truth, alcohol was slowly taking over, turning her world on its side.
Waking up to another hangover, growing tired of embarrassing herself in front of friends and family, and feeling important moments slip away, Brenda made the most critical decision of her life: to get sober. She kept a diary of her first year (and beyond) in recovery, chronicling the struggles of finding a meeting she could look forward to, relating to her fellow alcoholics, and finding a sponsor with whom she connected. Along the way, she discovered the challenges and pleasures of living each day without alcohol, navigating a social circle where booze is a centerpiece, and dealing with her alcoholic father's terminal illness and denial.
Brenda Wilhelmson's Diary of an Alcoholic Housewife offers insight, wisdom, and relevance for listeners in recovery, as well as their loved ones, no matter how long they've been sober. Winner of a Bronze IPPY (Independent Publisher Book Awards), Diary of an Alcoholic Housewife was called out by the Today Show as "striking a nerve".
©2011 Brenda Wilhelmson (P)2018 Brenda WilhelmsonListeners also enjoyed...
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Vera’s spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she’s kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything. So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone - the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to? Edgy and gripping, Please Ignore Vera Dietz is an unforgettable novel: Smart, funny, dramatic, and always surprising.
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Moving, disturbing, and humorous
- By Julie on 08-26-11
By: A. S. King
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Kissing Games of the World
- By: Sandi Kahn Shelton
- Narrated by: Myra Platt
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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What if the one person you can't bear to be with is also the one person you can't bear to be without? Jamie McClintock is a free-spirited artist and single mother who has at last found peace and freedom sharing a farmhouse with an elderly man and his young grandson. But when the old man dies suddenly her idyllic country life comes to a halt as the old man's estranged son, Nate, returns to claim the house and his child.
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Great Writer, Great Narrator ! Loved it!
- By Ms. Critic on 05-30-09
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Isle of Palms
- A Lowcountry Tale, Book 3
- By: Dorothea Benton Frank
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Dorothea Benton Frank is a treasure of American letters with numerous New York Times best-sellers to her credit and a portfolio full of critical acclaim. “Mixing high drama and high jinks” ( Booklist), her third Lowcountry novel follows the fortunes of the dysfunctional Abbot family. Looking to set her life aright, Anna Lutz Abbot returns to her South Carolina lowcountry hometown. And as she attempts to right past wrongs, Anna receives help and support from a quirky cast of lovable locals sure to endear themselves to listeners.
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A feel good story
- By Sheryl on 02-04-13
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My Inappropriate Life
- Some Material Not Suitable for Small Children, Nuns, or Mature Adults
- By: Heather McDonald
- Narrated by: Heather McDonald
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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In her hilarious New York Times best seller You’ll Never Blue Ball in This Town Again, Heather McDonald recounted her adventures as an unwilling virgin in Hollywood. Now happily married with three wonderful kids, she shows that life as a grown-up - even a pretend grown-up - has its challenges. Heather’s a working mom with parents who live next door, a sister who keeps asking for one of her still-fertile eggs, and friends who are up to more hijinks than even Heather can handle.
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Irritating
- By TrishS on 04-23-13
By: Heather McDonald
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Just a Guy
- Notes from a Blue Collar Life
- By: Bill Engvall, Alan Eisenstock
- Narrated by: Bill Engvall
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Blue Collar Comedy star Bill Engvall is just a guy. He's been one his whole life. He can't help it; he was born that way. And that makes him an expert on the subject. For the record, here's the official definition of a guy: a person who doesn't think before he speaks. He can't. He's not that deep. Because a guy has only three basic needs: eating, sleeping, and sex. That's it. Just a Guy chronicles a lifetime in pursuit of those needs.
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The Man Behind The Signs
- By Christopher on 12-07-07
By: Bill Engvall, and others
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The Hour I First Believed
- A Novel
- By: Wally Lamb
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 25 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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When high-school teacher Caelum Quirk and his wife, Maureen, move to Littleton, Colorado, they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, while Caelum is away, Maureen finds herself in the library at Columbine, cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed. Miraculously, she survives. But when Caelum and Maureen flee to an illusion of safety on the Quirk family's Connecticut farm, they discover that the effects of chaos are not easily put right.
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excellent all around yarn
- By G. on 01-10-09
By: Wally Lamb
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Miss Fortune
- Fresh Perspectives on Having It All from Someone Who Is Not Okay
- By: Lauren Weedman
- Narrated by: Lauren Weedman
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Lauren Weedman is not okay. She's living what should be the good life in sunny Los Angeles. After a gig as a correspondent with The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, she scored parts in blockbuster movies, which led to memorable recurring roles on HBO's Hung and Looking. She had a loving husband and an adorable baby boy. In these comedic essays, she turns a piercingly observant, darkly funny lens on the ways her life is actually not okay.
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Good
- By Ajules29 on 04-02-16
By: Lauren Weedman
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Save Me
- By: Kristyn Kusek Lewis
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Daphne Mitchell has always believed in cause and effect, right and wrong, good and bad. The good: her dream job as a doctor; Owen, her childhood sweetheart and now husband; the beautiful farmhouse they're restoring together. In fact most of her life has been good - until the day Owen comes home early from work to tell her he's fallen head over heels for someone else.
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story
- By ngoza on 08-10-15
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Summer at Sea
- By: Beth Labonte
- Narrated by: Erin Spencer
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Four jackets of varying weights, enough socks for the entire Confederate Army, three umbrellas, most of the antacid aisle from the local pharmacy, and six pairs of old-people sneakers that all look exactly the same. Have you ever helped your parents pack for a weeklong cruise? No? I didn't think so. So shut it. So begins vacation for Summer Hartwell - 26 years old, living with her anxiety-ridden parents, and unwillingly booked by her brother on a weeklong cruise to Bermuda.
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Oi God.
- By Misty Walker on 02-10-17
By: Beth Labonte
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Her Sister's Shoes
- By: Ashley Farley
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Samantha Sweeney has always been the glue that holds her family together, their go-to girl for love and support. When an ATV accident leaves her teenage son in a wheelchair, she loses her carefully constructed self-control. In the after-gloom of her dreaded 50th birthday and the discovery of her husband's infidelity, Jackie realizes she must reconnect with her former self to find the happiness she needs to move forward.
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Heartwarming family issues.
- By Schmanet on 07-25-16
By: Ashley Farley
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My Friend Leonard
- By: James Frey
- Narrated by: Andy Paris
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Perhaps the most unconventional and literally breathtaking father-son story you'll ever read, My Friend Leonard pulls you immediately and deeply into a relationship as unusual as it is inspiring. The father figure is Leonard, the high-living, recovering coke addict, "West Coast Director of a large Italian-American finance firm" (read: mobster) who helped to keep James Frey clean in A Million Little Pieces.
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Great book
- By Kathy on 11-04-05
By: James Frey
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Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See
- By: Juliann Garey
- Narrated by: Dan Butler
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In her tour-de-force first novel, Juliann Garey takes us inside the restless mind, ravaged heart, and anguished soul of Greyson Todd, a successful Hollywood studio executive who leaves his wife and young daughter and for a decade travels the world giving free reign to the bipolar disorder he's been forced to keep hidden for almost 20 years.
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Psychosis or Syphilis?
- By Vira on 04-02-13
By: Juliann Garey
What listeners say about Diary of an Alcoholic Housewife
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jason
- 01-25-19
LOVE IT !
When I saw that Simon & Schuster calls it “A gripping first-hand story of triumph and recovery,” I knew it was for me. I bought the print version and loved it. The audiobook you can listen to over and again because is is so dense with interesting stories. I also like that it is narrated by the author herself. A great book for anyone suffering from addictions, and anyone who loves them.
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2 people found this helpful
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- aebrady
- 03-10-19
Longgggg
The first part of this book is great; the reader sees how this woman is struggling. She is relatable and the story is interesting. As the story continues, it begins to drag on and on. She quits drinking and really never looks back. It doesn't seem like it was even difficult. Story after story about AA meetings and the mundane life of a mom gets pretty boring. It is difficult to follow the story at times because she doesn't remind the reader who she is speaking about.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Nick Light
- 04-16-19
Good Book BUT....
The vocal fry on this woman nearly pushed me over the edge. Either cough it up or clear your voice for god sake
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- Jolie Runyan
- 01-26-19
Raw, honest, refreshingly candid look at recovery
Diary of an Alcoholic Housewife is a raw, honest, candid look at the recovery process through the eyes of a powerful woman with the strength and humility to turn her struggle into inspiration for other women who silently stagger through the fog of high functioning addiction. Brenda's story is profoundly relatable in a society that largely depends on alcohol as a social lubricant and a fundamental facet of hospitality in general.
Alcohol is as intrinsic to culture as food, music, art and literature. Brenda's book shines a light on the tight rope walk that so many of us walk in an effort to feel better and have a good time, to relax and connect with others.
It is a treat to hear Brenda's story narrated in her own voice. It lends authenticity and intimacy to the experience of listening to the courageous journey of this tiny heroine of her own life.
Bravo, Brenda. Thank you for taking the concept and reality of alcoholism out of "skid row" and placing it on Main Street and Fifth Avenue where it also belongs.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Minneapolis listener
- 02-18-21
Wonderful
I found this book enjoyable, informative, heartfelt and not a bit histrionic. I heartily recognize this.
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- ShopGirl
- 05-05-21
Excellent!
Enjoyed this so much! Honesty with ourselves is not always easy to face up to especially faced with alcoholism. Many lessons to be learned from Brenda & we can all use self introspection! Loved this!
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- Phoebe
- 10-22-23
A very long book with very little depth.
I love reading books on sobriety and I truly enjoy empathizing with other addicts and alcoholics even when their story doesn’t align with mine. I didn’t like how small minded and judgmental towards others Brenda came across as. And the only thing I learned about her husband Charlie is that he is non-charmingly horny. The representation of them as a couple was very off putting and slightly repulsive, lol. It was a very long book with very little depth.
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- T. Taylor
- 01-25-19
If drinking is controlling you, GET THIS BOOK
This is a book I couldn't put down. The author is brutally honest about her struggles with alcohol and I found we had ALOT in common! I laughed, teared up, laughed again, gasped and read this (in kindle form) straight through in one weekend. I loved the humor, the honesty and the fact she held nothing back from her readers. I too struggled with alcohol but finished this book along with my last glass of wine and have been sober 2.5 years since. Powerful read.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Danabanana
- 03-03-19
Raw and Real
I found this book to be honest, raw, real, painful, insightful, and connecting.
Brenda took me through her old habits of numbing cocktail hours and painful hangovers. I got a glimpse of how damaging it was to her and how she struggled, yet has overcome such a challenging disease. It was sad to hear about all of her friends and family still struggling with this disease. But I was amazed at the same time that Brenda has been so strong to overcome the holds of alcohol, and the constant pulls of the addiction trying to drag her back down. Even going through the gut wrenching cancer and alcoholism of her father and the steps leading up to his death reminded me that we only have so much time on earth and how we must make the absolute most of our time here.
All of Brenda’s descriptions/imagery of food, places she’s visited and different events were colorfully vivid and I was desperate to taste and could almost taste the different delicacies she described.
Listening to her find connections to her higher power, giving up life to something much bigger than her was completely cathartic for me. Hopeful and amazed, my respect for Brenda has grown exponentially throughout the story.
It also has me realizing how much I have not seen in my life by way of traveling. I imagined myself with Brenda in Budapest and her soulful hike in Havasu.
Overall I’m thankful for the great source of insight that Brenda has provided me via her story. We have choices. There are awesome people around us and we just have to weed through them to find the people who will enlighten us, care for us, root for our victories and be there when we fall. We have to also recognize those who only bring toxicity in our world, like the Kelly’s of the world and other sufferers of addiction whether recovering or relapsing. This book has surely made me think of the dangerous people in my world. These are people who drag us down to their level, only to put themselves on pedestals. It was an eye opening book that I’m thankful to have read.
Brenda, I can wait to read/listen to your next book!!! You have touched me down deep, brought me further into your world, and for that I am grateful. With love.
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1 person found this helpful
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- D. Soderstrom
- 04-21-19
Narrator Detracts; This Might Not Be For Everyone
The narrator has bouts of “vocal fry” which I found distracting. Also character voices, while supposed to be whiny, struck me as over the top.
I worry that this book’s descriptions of her longing for “a vodka over ice” or the lovely “dry Pinot Grigio” might trigger someone early or vulnerable in their sobriety. It is a diary so it is legit as to her state of mind, but be cautious. Good read for friends and family of a problem drinker who hid it well. Gives an accurate portrayal of high functioning upper middle class woman giving up alcohol.
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