The Unwinding of the Miracle

A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After

By: Julie Yip-Williams

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, Joshua Williams

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today • As a young mother facing a terminal diagnosis, Julie Yip-Williams began to write her story, a story like no other. What began as the chronicle of an imminent and early death became something much more—a powerful exhortation to the living.

“An exquisitely moving portrait of the daily stuff of life.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Time • Real Simple • Good Housekeeping

That Julie Yip-Williams survived infancy was a miracle. Born blind in Vietnam, she narrowly escaped euthanasia at the hands of her grandmother, only to flee with her family the political upheaval of her country in the late 1970s. Loaded into a rickety boat with three hundred other refugees, Julie made it to Hong Kong and, ultimately, America, where a surgeon at UCLA gave her partial sight. She would go on to become a Harvard-educated lawyer, with a husband, a family, and a life she had once assumed would be impossible. Then, at age thirty-seven, with two little girls at home, Julie was diagnosed with terminal metastatic colon cancer, and a different journey began.

The Unwinding of the Miracle is the story of a vigorous life refracted through the prism of imminent death. When she was first diagnosed, Julie Yip-Williams sought clarity and guidance through the experience and, finding none, began to write her way through it—a chronicle that grew beyond her imagining. Motherhood, marriage, the immigrant experience, ambition, love, wanderlust, tennis, fortune-tellers, grief, reincarnation, jealousy, comfort, pain, the marvel of the body in full rebellion—this book is as sprawling and majestic as the life it records. It is inspiring and instructive, delightful and shattering. It is a book of indelible moments, seared deep—an incomparable guide to living vividly by facing hard truths consciously.

With humor, bracing honesty, and the cleansing power of well-deployed anger, Julie Yip-Williams set the stage for her lasting legacy and one final miracle: the story of her life.

Praise for The Unwinding of the Miracle

“Everything worth understanding and holding on to is in this book. . . . A miracle indeed.”—Kelly Corrigan, New York Times bestselling author

“A beautifully written, moving, and compassionate chronicle that deserves to be read and absorbed widely.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies

Critic reviews

“Eloquent, gutting and at times disarmingly funny . . . Yip-Williams writes with such vibrancy and electricity even as she is dying. . . . This memoir is so many things—a triumphant tale of a blind immigrant, a remarkable philosophical treatise and a call to arms to pay attention to the limited time we have on this earth. But at its core, it’s an exquisitely moving portrait of the daily stuff of life: family secrets and family ties, marriage and its limitlessness and limitations, wild and unbounded parental love and, ultimately, the graceful recognition of what we can’t—and can—control.”—Lori Gottlieb, The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

“Everything worth understanding and holding on to is in this book. . . . A miracle indeed.”—Kelly Corrigan, New York Times bestselling author of The Middle Place and Tell Me More

“A beautifully written, moving, and compassionate chronicle that deserves to be read and absorbed widely.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies

“Julie Yip-Williams lived a life defined by effort and incredible self-reliance. But in this searing memoir of increasing vulnerability, she dismantles and then reconstructs what it means to be triumphant. Her writing examines not only her disability and illness—and their cultural, medical, and narrative constructs—but love, authenticity, hope, egotism, even rage. I didn’t know Julie, but in these pages, I grew to love her.”—Lucy Kalanithi

“When talking to my patients, I have always struggled to find the perfect balance between hope and honesty. While they are often thought of as opposites, Julie Yip-Williams reminds us they can coexist in a beautiful and meaningful way. In The Unwinding of the Miracle, we are treated to a beautifully written story that is also at times brutally candid about the realities of her cancer diagnosis and treatment. It is increasingly rare to find such an authentic voice, one that will inform and inspire you.”—Sanjay Gupta, M.D.

“[When] Yip-Williams was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer at the age of thirty-seven in 2013, she decided to write her story, which resulted in this inspiring and remarkable work that chronicles her immigration to the U.S. and her final five years. . . . [Her] wise and moving account of her battle with cancer is an extraordinary call to live wholeheartedly.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

No Pity

Julie did not want pity based on her writing. I get this. My husband of 22 years was adamant (although angry) about his diagnosis of colorectal cancer. We (and it is a definite "we") fought it until after a trip to Venice and Greece we came home, he looked me square in the eye at his next oncology appointment where he was to begin a particularly gruelling treatment and told everyone present he was done. His tone caused all of the equipment and staff to pull back and leave the room. I stood and said I would pull the car around. I have no recollection of the drive home. We had no children and no close family. I was so calm in retrospect. Hospice called, I made all of the decisions calmly and by the time they arrived with the bed and sundry other aids I calmly accepted my life was going on without Mike. He even asked me to go ahead and make funeral arrangements which I calmly did. I can relate completely to Josh's feelings during this awful ordeal. It's not that I wanted my husband to die. It's that I loved him enough to let him go on his own terms. If we had young children he would likely have done trials and been more assertive in hanging on. Fortunately, Josh is financially secure, intelligent and has a promising future. My heart goes out to those who are fighting this horrible disease scared, uniformed and unsupported.

Inspiring and wonderful words of wisdom

I really liked her honesty, outlook, and perserverance. She has a lot of words of wisdom and advice which is very helpful when going through your own life challenges.

A well told story about Love, Life and Dying young

A beautifully told story about one person's relationship with Cancer and how it affects not only yourself but your family.

Lovely and touching

What a lovely and touching story. If you are looking for something that will make you ponder your remaining existence, this might be it.

Death is mandatory. Living is optional

Julie couldn't be more different than I on the exterior. We are however very similar on life philosophy on many aspects of the miracle that is life. Because of that, this book touched me profoundly. I look forward to my adventures in Antarctica. I look forward to spending daily walks with my dogs. In other words, I am more cognizant that death is mandatory, life is optional.

Read this book. Be present every day. Travel. Be brave. Seek out adventures. Appreciate the loved ones in your life.