Other editions of book Kindred Souls: Connecting Through Spiritual Friendship

The poignant and unforgettable true account of the deep, loving friendship between a handsome physician and the former First Lady, as seen on PBS’s The Roosevelts: An Intimate History “I love you as I love and have never loved anyone else.” —Eleanor Roosevelt in a letter to Dr. David Gurewitsch, 1955 She was the most famous and admired woman in America. He was a strikingly handsome doctor, eighteen years her junior. Eleanor Roosevelt first met David Gurewitsch in 1944. He was making a house call to a patient when the door opened to reveal the wife of the president of the United States, who had come to help her sick friend. A year later, Gurewitsch was Mrs. Roosevelt’s personal physician, on his way to becoming the great lady’s dearest companion—a relationship that would endure until Mrs. Roosevelt’s death in 1962. Recounting the details of this remarkable union is an intimately involved chronicler: Gurewitsch’s wife, Edna. Kindred Souls is a rare love story—the tale of a friendship between two extraordinary people, based on trust, exchange of confidences, and profound interest in and respect for each other’s work. With perceptiveness, compassion, admiration, and deep affection, the author recalls the final decade and a half of the former First Lady’s exceptional life, from her first encounter with the man who would become Mrs. Gurewitsch’s husband through the blossoming of a unique bond and platonic love. Blended into her tender reminiscences are excerpts from the enduring correspondence between Dr. Gurewitsch and the First Lady, and a collection of personal photographs of the Gurewitsch and Roosevelt families. The result is a revealing portrait of one of the twentieth century’s most beloved icons in the last years of her life—a woman whom the author warmly praises as “one of the few people in this world in which greatness and modesty could coexist.”

For 15 years, Eleanor Roosevelt and her handsome doctor, David Gurewitsch, were friends, traveling, entertaining, and eventually buying a townhouse together in Manhattan. Their friendship has always intrigued historians, but not much is known about it. David kept detailed journals and took thousands of photos, but he never publicly discussed their time together. For the first time, Edna Gurewitsch, David's wife, is opening up and revealing their story, and hers, after she married into their complicated relationship. Edna also gives a fresh, insider's look at Mrs. Roosevelt as she continued to influence world events, and the book is filled with passionate letters from Mrs. Roosevelt.

In a letter to David Gurewitsch, Eleanor Roosevelt's personal physician and friend during the last fifteen years of her life, Mrs. Roosevelt wrote, "Above all others, you are the one to whom my heart is tied...." This defines the intense relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and David Gurewitsch-- friends who often traveled and entertained together and eventually, after his marriage to Edna Perkel, bought and shared a town house in Manhattan.Their private friendship, a companionship they both treasured, has always intrigued historians, but not much was known about it. David kept diaries and took thousands of photographs, but he never publicly discussed their time together. Now, for the first time, his wife, Edna, has decided to reveal their story and hers after she married into their complicated relationship. Reading David's diaries and the hundreds of letters that he and Mrs. Roosevelt exchanged over the years, and then reflecting on her own life after the death of her husband, enabled Edna finally to write this story. She sheds new light on Mrs. Roosevelt's very private journey of self-discovery as she gained the confidence and knowledge to follow her own personal and political convictions: visiting Khrushchev at his home in Yalta, working on Adlai Stevenson's campaign, being charmed by the young Senator John Kennedy into giving her support for his presidential candidacy, and above all inspiring the love and respect of people all over the world for her compassion, eloquence, and devotion to humanity.Given her husband's unique role as doctor and confidant to Mrs. Roosevelt, Edna Gurewitsch draws on his insights and her own as a close friend to offer us a very human and inspiring portrait of this complex woman. Perceived as a strong and deeply caring person, which she was, Mrs. Roosevelt also struggled terribly with loneliness and jealousy and a need to transcend her sometimes overwhelming feelings of inadequacy. Her capacity for friendship was enormous, and Edna Gurewitsch describes what it was like to be on the receiving end of her exceptional thoughtfulness-- the carefully chosen gifts left on doorsteps, the generous notes, and the open conversations she welcomed with a humility that never trumpeted her own virtues or called attention to herself as one of the great minds of the twentieth century.Kindred Souls is filled with personal and unpublished letters from Mrs. Roosevelt. Sometimes chatty and fact-filled, but more often heartfelt and passionate, these letters reveal her yearnings and vulnerabilities as well as her comings and goings, her personal as well as her global concerns. And yet they are always balanced by her special dignity and probity. The book also includes thirty-two pages of never-before-seen photographs taken by David Gurewitsch. Combined with the author's own memories and observations, Kindred Souls is a unique, intimate look at three friends and their extraordinary lives.

The poignant and unforgettable true account of the deep, loving friendship between a handsome physician and the former First Lady, as seen on PBS’s The Roosevelts: An Intimate History “I love you as I love and have never loved anyone else.” —Eleanor Roosevelt in a letter to Dr. David Gurewitsch, 1955 She was the most famous and admired woman in America. He was a strikingly handsome doctor, eighteen years her junior. Eleanor Roosevelt first met David Gurewitsch in 1944. He was making a house call to a patient when the door opened to reveal the wife of the president of the United States, who had come to help her sick friend. A year later, Gurewitsch was Mrs. Roosevelt’s personal physician, on his way to becoming the great lady’s dearest companion—a relationship that would endure until Mrs. Roosevelt’s death in 1962. Recounting the details of this remarkable union is an intimately involved chronicler: Gurewitsch’s wife, Edna. Kindred Souls is a rare love story—the tale of a friendship between two extraordinary people, based on trust, exchange of confidences, and profound interest in and respect for each other’s work. With perceptiveness, compassion, admiration, and deep affection, the author recalls the final decade and a half of the former First Lady’s exceptional life, from her first encounter with the man who would become Mrs. Gurewitsch’s husband through the blossoming of a unique bond and platonic love. Blended into her tender reminiscences are excerpts from the enduring correspondence between Dr. Gurewitsch and the First Lady, and a collection of personal photographs of the Gurewitsch and Roosevelt families. The result is a revealing portrait of one of the twentieth century’s most beloved icons in the last years of her life—a woman whom the author warmly praises as “one of the few people in this world in which greatness and modesty could coexist.”

What is a spiritual friendship? How does a spiritual friendship differ from other kinds of friendship? In KINDRED SOULS, Stephanie Ford reveals what it truly means to be a spiritual companion. She begins by reexamining the monastic roots of spiritual friendship through our shared tradition with the Roman Catholic Church and presents the unlikely friendship of Ruth and Naomi as a template for spiritual friendship. Practical insights are given on how to deal with real issues such as overcoming the fear of sharing and how to become a faithful listener. Whether you are a novice at spiritual friendships or have enjoyed their benefits for years, KINDRED SOULS will offer new insights that will enable and empower you to nurture partnerships that will continue to bear fruit throughout your lifetime.

Drawn from detailed journals, the wife od David Gureswitsch presents a richly textured memoir, filled with passionate letters and never-before-seen photographs, that brings to life the friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and her dashing doctor, David Gurewitsch, providing a new glimpse of Mrs. Roosevelt as she continued to have a profound impact on world events. Reprint.

For fifteen years, Eleanor Roosevelt and her handsome doctor, David Gurewitsch, were friends--traveling, entertaining, and eventually buying a townhouse together in Manhattan. Their friendship has always intrigued historians, but not much was known about it. David kept detailed journals and took thousands of photos, but he never publicly discussed their time together. Then, in 2003, the woman who had married into this complicated relationship, Edna Gurewitsch, opened up, revealing their story--and hers--for the first time. Filled with the author's own memories and observations and a selection of passionate letters from Mrs. Roosevelt, her book also gives a fresh insider's look at the influence the former first lady continued to wield on world events long after the death of her husband. Kindred Souls is a unique, intimate look at three friends and their extraordinary lives.

For fifteen years, Eleanor Roosevelt and her handsome doctor, David Gurewitsch, were friends--traveling, entertaining, and eventually buying a townhouse together in Manhattan. Their friendship has always intrigued historians, but not much was known about it. David kept detailed journals and took thousands of photos, but he never publicly discussed their time together. Then, in 2003, the woman who had married into this complicated relationship, Edna Gurewitsch, opened up, revealing their story--and hers--for the first time. Filled with the author's own memories and observations and a selection of passionate letters from Mrs. Roosevelt, her book also gives a fresh insider's look at the influence the former first lady continued to wield on world events long after the death of her husband. Kindred Souls is a unique, intimate look at three friends and their extraordinary lives.