Nothing to Fall Back On: The Life and Times of a Perpetual Optimist

Betsy Carter seemed to have it all: a gorgeous husband with Paul Newman eyes, a thriving career as a journalist at Newsweek and Esquire, and invites to the hottest parties in the best city in the world. Carter was the ultimate "New York woman," and so it was no wonder that she founded a magazine by that name.

But in her early thirties, her luck turned toxic: a fire, illness, divorce, a devastating cab accident, unspeakably bad boyfriends. Carter's life became so grim that her therapist su...