"Tender, funny, and deeply uplifting, WAIT, IT GETS WORSE is about more than facing the unexpected; it’s an everywoman’s guide to living a life that matters."

Arianna Huffington
FOUNDER & CEO, THRIVE GLOBAL

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More on Wait, It Gets Worse…

Lydia Slaby was thirty-three years old and had everything she believed would make her happy: three fancy private school degrees; a successful husband who was in the inner circles of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign; a high-paying job as an attorney—even an enviable yoga practice. But under the surface Lydia’s life was in free-fall. Her new marriage was one argument after another, she had a job she never wanted, and for some reason she had begun to rapidly lose weight and turn a strange shade of yellowish-green. When she made a doctor’s appointment to talk about the toll of extreme stress, she was instead admitted with a diagnosis of lymphoma.

As a cancer survivor, Lydia tries to piece back together her marriage, her career, and her own worth. It’s an imperfect rebirth, but “perfection” is something she must abandon if she is to at last find the perspective that will open a new, calm, healthy life. With a voice that is wise, irreverent, and filled with sharp humor, this is a story about following all the rules only to learn the hard way that control is an illusion and that love will save your life.

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Lydia Slaby's story is unique and very personal, but the life lessons she learned in the years after getting a cancer diagnosis at 33—about happiness and health, fulfillment and failure, resilience and change—are universal. Tender, funny, and deeply uplifting, WAIT, IT GETS WORSE is about more than facing the unexpected; it’s an everywoman’s guide to living a life that matters.

Arianna HuffingtonFounder & CEO, Thrive Global
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Lydia Slaby shows that the power to change is within every one of us—once we give up the illusion of control. We don't control much of anything in life, but we do control how we react to change. You'll cry, you'll laugh, you'll cheer her on, but mostly you'll realize what it means to live a life fully in control of your true self. Lydia's story points the way.”

Beth ComstockAuthor of IMAGINE IT FORWARD & former Vice Chair, GE
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It was Lydia’s GI Jane buzz cut and soldier spirit that captivated me when we first met—and she’s just as captivating on the page. WAIT, IT GETS WORSE is a book for discovering, for learning to let go, for laughing and crying and laughing again. It’s a book for anyone who’s ever asked, ‘Am I enough?’ And it’s a book that answers, ‘Yes. Yes you are.’

Sophia BushActress and Activist
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Lydia has detailed with such authenticity something that so many of us struggle with—control—and the misnomer that we actually have it. This powerful memoir shows us a path for potential transformation in our own lives and I am grateful that she has shared her journey with the hope of impacting others. The optimism that jumps off the page is infectious.

Doug UlmanPresident and CEO of Pelotonia and former President and CEO of LiveSTRONG
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WAIT, IT GETS WORSE is one of those stranger-than-fiction stories that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. This perfectly-paced, well-told memoir of a journey no one wants to take is filled with fierce honesty, humor, and exuberance, delivering hard-won wisdom that uplifts and inspires hope. Lydia Slaby writes about her flaws with as much insight as she writes her triumphs. Obsessively readable. Touching. Hilarious. Heart-breaking. It’s a memoir about finding one's true path in life.

Susan Wiggs#1 New York Times bestselling author