In writing their book “To the Soul Within,” Sudbury authors Jill-Anne Hachey and Meghan Bonhomme had to revisit some very traumatic and personal experiences.
Although doing this was difficult, they hope their writings serve to help others.
The self-published book is a heartfelt collection of open letters about healing, growth and connection.
The letters span topics from body image to feeling like a failure to heartbreak to breaking free from abuse, all inspired by the authors’ own experiences. They all end with resources readers can access to help them through these kinds of situations.
Among the personal experiences the authors tapped were infidelity, coming out as queer, leaving a relationship, walking away from a business, a mental breakdown related to occupational burnout, the death of a friend and more.
Hachey said she’s had comments that the book is “the new age of the Chicken Soup for the Soul.”
“We had to be very vulnerable in our book,” said Hachey, who, in her day job, works in child and youth mental health at Health Sciences North.
“Meghan sometimes was like, ‘I'm going to puke. Like people are going to read this.’ But that's the beauty of it, there's so much vulnerability, there's so much of our story that we share, that someone's going to be like ‘Wow, you're sharing this with me, and I've been through this myself.”
Writing the book was therapy for the authors, but also difficult, as they had to revisit their trauma over and over. “There's so much love and power that went into this,” Hachey said.
“This book's written, because a lot of the time we go through these experiences alone,” she said..”We think no one else can be feeling what I'm feeling, no one else can be going through when I'm going through.
“But really, if you take a moment to read any of those letters that Meagan and I have written, you're going to find a connection one way or another through it and be like, ‘I'm not alone in that experience.’”
Hachey is also the author of a previous self-published book “A Space of Gratitude: Twelve Truths on Life and Loss to Awaken Your Beautiful Soul,” which was released in 2022.
“I had a lot of readers reach out to me and tell me how it supported them, how it helped them,” she said.
The co-authors both grew up in Elliot Lake, although they didn’t know each other well. But both of them had been building a following on social media related to self care.
Bonhomme, an English and fitness professor at Cambrian who also has a self-care business called Lovely Human School, said she and Jill-Anne started running into each other at the same events.
“And then, I think it was a year ago, Jill-Anne asked me to speak at an event that she was hosting out at one of the local schools in Sudbury and that sort of was the tipping point for us in ending up working together,” she said.
Bonhomme said she and Hachey have “big hopes” for the book, and want to get it into as many hands as possible.
“We have so many resources here to help people, but it's not just a one and done sort of thing,” she said.
“It's a book that could take them through their life. Maybe they're not dealing with a hard friendship right now, but a year down the road, we want them to be able to pick this book up, scroll through the table of contents, and feel like they've got someone walking beside them.”
The authors have a couple of book launches coming up, including at the Elliot Lake Public Library from 12-3 p.m. Dec. 7, and at De Capo Cafe and Lounge in downtown Sudbury Jan. 25.
In the meantime, if you’d like to get your hands on a copy of the book, it can be purchased through True North Made in the New Sudbury Centre and online through lovelyhumanschool.com.
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.