order BOOK

Amazon

indiebound

IBOOKS

B & N

ORDER AUDIOBOOK

AUDIBLE

AMAZON

ITUNES

Appearing May 23, 2017, from Rodale Press.

Science journalist Julie Rehmeyer was so sick she sometimes couldn’t turn over in bed. The top specialists in the world were powerless to help, and scientific research on her disease was at a near standstill. She was running out of money. And she was all alone, with no one to care for her.

Having exhausted the plausible ideas, Rehmeyer turned to an implausible one. She followed the advice of strangers she’d met on the Internet. They struck her as crazy—but they had recovered from chronic fatigue syndrome as severe as hers. Leaving behind everything she owned, she drove into the desert, testing the theory that mold in her home and belongings was making her sick. Stripped of the life she’d known and the future she’d imagined, Rehmeyer felt as though she were going to the desert to die.

But she didn’t die. She used her scientific savvy and investigative journalism skills to find a path to wellness—and uncovered how shocking scientific neglect and misconduct had forced her, and millions of others, to go it alone. In stunning prose, Rehmeyer describes how her illness transformed her understanding of science, medicine and spirituality.

read my essay in O Magazine, based on the book

Reviews

“Harrowing, raw and frequently inspiring... She writes as she has been forced to live: with great inner strength and determination.”

— Washington Post

“Full of verve and curiosity... Eloquent.”

— New Yorker

“Through the Shadowlands is a gift, and I am grateful that Rehmeyer trusts us with this frank, intimate look into her life.”

— Scientific American

“Science journalist Rehmeyer’s deeply personal illness memoir stands out for the lucidity of her self-analysis and pragmatism about managing a life turned upside down by chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). She emerges as simultaneously a science journalist frustrated with established medicine’s dismissiveness, a patient open to the pseudoscientific approaches of non-traditional practitioners, and a desperate woman reaching out to suffering peers on the Internet for support and advice. This last avenue ultimately leads her to an extreme removal of mold from her environment, starting with a body-resetting solo expedition to Death Valley....

Rehmeyer’s frustrated but cautiously optimistic story will resonate with readers who value an intelligent, scientific approach to life but wonder what to do when there aren’t any good answers. ”

— Publisher's Weekly

“ A hopeful memoir laced with ample doses of reality.”

— June Sawyers, Booklist

“Julie Rehmeyer’s inspiring memoir of surviving the ravages of ME/CFS casts much-needed light on what it’s like to live with a poorly understood disease. Humorous, compassionate, and motivated throughout by curiosity, Through the Shadowlands will powerfully illuminate this murky realm for anyone wondering what it’s like to suffer and survive.”

— Meghan O’Rourke, author of The Long Goodbye

“Only a brilliant science writer could possibly traverse the mysterious landscape of America’s most misunderstood affliction with such grace. From the politics of scientific research to the far reaches of alternative medicine; from the nitty gritty of molecules to the depths of raw emotion ― this is a riveting story that will change lives.”

— Joan Borysenko, New York Times bestselling author of Minding the Body, Mending the Mind

“Julie Rehmeyer’s self-taught journey through the murky world of mycotoxins, which she shares so eloquently in this book, has helped our whole clinical team change our protocols. With the help of the expert training of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, we are now testing and treating people with mycotoxin poisoning. It is wonderful to see people getting better!”

— Nancy Klimas, Director of the Institute for Neuro Immune Medicine and Professor of Medicine at Nova Southeastern University

“Julie Rehmeyer is both a real scientist and an award-winning science writer. Her book will have the power to change lives.”

— Dave Asprey, New York Times bestselling author, author of Head Strong, and producer of the film Moldy

“It is a privilege to have the singular journey through the outback of contested medicine narrated by a science journalist with the nuance, rigor, deep respectability and reporting chops of Julie Rehmeyer.”

— Pamela Weintraub, author of Cure Unknown and commissioning editor at Aeon