High Hopes: A Memoir

Fans of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild will root for Anne Abel as she intrepidly sets out alone for Australia at the age of sixty, seeking to capture some Bruce Springsteen energy and fight off her lifelong, debilitating depression.

At the age of fifty-nine, Anne has never been to a concert. Then, as a way to spend time with her son and daughter-in-law, she reluctantly goes with them to local arena to see Bruce Springsteen—a man she knows nothing about. For three-plus hours, Bruce Springsteen’s energy, humanity, and enthusiasm lift Anne and make her feel like she has a chance. For three-plus hours, she feels alive.

A year later, after having one desk too many thrown at her, Anne quits her community college teaching job . . . and then she panics. She suffers from severe recurrent depression, and she is terrified that without the structure and focus of teaching, she will be at risk for falling into a deep depression. Having been inpatient twice at a psychiatric hospital, undergone three regimens of electroconvulsive shock therapy, and tried over twenty medications, she knows she needs a new and different plan. Then she remembers how hopeful and alive she feels at Bruce Springsteen’s concerts and that he will be touring in Australia in four months. So, even though she hates to travel, hates to be alone, and didn’t even know what a Bruce Springsteen was a year ago, Anne books the trip. Eight concerts, five cities, twenty-six days. She hopes that harnessing some of Bruce Springsteen’s energy will keep her out of the abyss.

Anne doesn’t go on this trip to change. But change she does.