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A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR USA TODAY BOOK CLUB PICK ONE OF AUDIBLES BEST BIOS AND MEMOIRS OF 2023 A raw intimate look at Hendricksons life with a stutter Its a profoundly moving book that will reshape the way you think about people living with this conditionEsquire A candid memoir about a lifelong struggle to speak

Life On Delay brims with empathy and honesty It moved me in ways that I havent experienced before Its fantasticClint Smith author of the 1 New York Times bestseller How the Word Is Passed

I cant remember the last time I read a book that made me want to both cry and cheer so much often at the same timeRobert Kolkerbestsellingauthor of Hidden Valley Road

In the fall of 2019 John Hendrickson wrote a groundbreaking story for The Atlantic about Joe Bidens decadeslong journey with stuttering as well as his own The article went viral reaching readers around the world and altering the course of Hendricksons life Overnight he was forced to publicly confront an element of himself that still caused him great pain

He soon learned he wasnt alone with his feelings strangers who stutter began sending him their own personal stories something that continues to this day Now in this reported memoir Hendrickson takes us deep inside the mind and heart of a stutterer as he sets out to answer lingering questions about himself and his condition that he was often too afraid to ask

In Life on Delay Hendrickson writes candidly about bullying substance abuse depression isolation and other issues stutterers like him face daily He explores the intricate family dynamics surrounding his own stutter and revisits key people from his past in unguarded interviews Readers get an overtheshoulder view of his childhood his career as a journalist which once seemed impossible and his search for a romantic partner Along the way Hendrickson guides us through the evolution of speech therapy the controversial quest for a magic pill to end stuttering and the burgeoning selfhelp movement within the stuttering communityBeyond his own experiences he shares portraits of fellow stutterers who have changed his life and he writes about a pioneering doctor who is upending the field of speech therapy

Life on Delay is an indelible account of perseverance a soulful narrative about not giving up and a glimpse into the process of making peace with our past and present selves