As the baby boom generation ages -- the oldest are now turning sixty -- many of them are learning to deal with a whole new way of life, after the last child has finally moved out and they are, once again, alone. It’s the same milestone their own parents faced, but as with so many other markers, this generation approaches it in a whole new way.

In this fascinating collection, journalist Karen Stabiner has assembled essays from thirty-one writers about their own experience with the empty nest. Parents whose children left home last week join those with grandchildren to explore how life changes once the offspring leave (unless, of course, they move back in again later). They represent the full range of experience -- from traditional nuclear families to single parents to gay parents to grandparents -- with humor, grace, and poignancy.

"Skillfully gathered and edited by L.A. writer Karen Stabiner . . . these writers create a much-needed road map . . . [Many of the] stories are rich with the kind of honesty you won't hear at graduation -- stories of difficulties and rawness that keep the anthology from becoming too predictable." --Los Angeles Times

"Anyone dreading, savoring or recovering from their child's entering [adulthood], will recognize themselves in these bittersweet, boldly personal essays from more than 30 parents. . . . Packed with hard-earned wisdom and snippets of advice, this comforting collection by pining parents softens the blow of the inescapable." --People Magazine

“As the mother of two teenage daughters, including a high school senior, I opened The Empty Nest with trepidation, but finished it filled with gratitude and insight. Karen Stabiner has brought together an amazing collection of parents who share their intimate stories of what it means to have an empty bedroom down the hall, and a child out on her own. Sometimes funny, sometimes heartrending, this book is a valuable road map through one of life's most daunting transitions.” --Arianna Huffington, author of On Becoming Fearless

"This honest, insightful collection is for parents at any stage of the process -- reminding us that the highest accomplishment of parenting is to raise children who can joyfully and successfully leave the nest, and to be the kind of parent who can let them go." ---Hope Edelman, author of Motherless Daughters

“While nothing thrills a reader more than the deepest emotions given life by gifted writers, the essays in The Empty Nest, edited by Karen Stabiner, take the complex parting between parents and their growing children to a new level. With breathtaking candor, humor and elegance, these essays probe the ambivalence of being laid off from the one job that -- no matter what else we do - will be our most important contribution to the world. The Empty Nest is a deeply affecting banquet of thoughts on the only love that must grow toward separation. You thought you knew the last word about saying goodbye; but, until now, you were mistaken.” --Jacquelyn Mitchard, author The Deep End of the Ocean and Still Summer