Untamed

Glennon Doyle is a successful writer and activist. Untamed is her third memoir, and focuses on her journey to break free from society’s expectations of gender and sexuality in order to live a free and authentic life. Doyle shares her past struggles with bulimia and addiction openly. Her battle with bulimia first began at the age of ten in reaction to the intense pressures she felt to meet society’s expectations for a young girl. She recalls experiencing depression and anxiety from a young age and refers to these feelings as “the Ache.” In her continued efforts to numb herself, Doyle also battles alcohol and drug addiction and only becomes sober at the age of twenty-six when she becomes pregnant with her eldest son Chase. Her first memoir discusses her journey through sobriety. In Untamed, Doyle recounts the lessons she learned through this journey to confront uncomfortable feelings and build resilience.

During this time, Doyle marries the father of her son and gives birth to two daughters named Tish and Amma. She learns of her husband’s infidelity throughout the course of their marriage and documents the repair of their relationship in her second memoir. Despite their best efforts through couples’ therapy, Doyle finds it difficult to forgive her husband and battles her resistance to intimacy with him. Conflicted over her public persona of healing and reunion, Doyle begins to promote her second memoir. At a writers’ convention in Chicago, she meets Abby Wambach, the professional soccer player, and instantly feels a connection. Although she and Abby only speak briefly in private that evening, Doyle begins to fall in love with Abby and contemplates ending her marriage to pursue a relationship with Abby. She and Abby exchange emails over the course of a month and begin to fall deeper in love. Through the process of deciding to divorce her husband and come out with her relationship to Abby, Doyle learns to reject the social conditioning that has restricted much of her life and pursue what she desires.

In her pursuit of this new freedom, Doyle works through her intense obsession with control. Through a series of vignettes, she describes the moments of release that shape her into a better partner, co-parent, daughter, friend, and mother. Doyle expands her influence as a philanthropist and activist and begins to take action to help those in need. She learns to accept criticism while protecting her inner peace. After documenting the way in which she applies her shared principles in her own life, Doyle finds balance in constructing a new blended family of support and independence.