In her first nonfiction book in a decade, the #1 bestselling writer who taught millions of readers to live authentically ( Eat Pray Love ) and creatively ( Big Magic ) shows how to break free. In 2000, Elizabeth Gilbert met Rayya. They became friends, then best friends, then inseparable. When tragedy entered their lives, the truth was finally laid bare: The two were in love. They were also a pair of addicts, on a collision course toward catastrophe. What if your most beautiful love story turned into your biggest nightmare? What if the dear friend who taught you so much about your self-destructive tendencies became the unstable partner with whom you disastrously reenacted every one of them? And what if your most devastating heartbreak opened a pathway to your greatest awakening? All the Way to the River is a landmark memoir that will resonate with anyone who has ever been captive to love–or to any other passion, substance, or craving – and who yearns, at long last, for liberation.