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Julie Evans, "Joy Road: My Journey From Addiction To Recovery"

Joy Road: My Journey from Addiction to Recovery


August 2019—A “Woodstock 50” memoir of addiction and redemption
by Woodstock writer and healer Julie Evans


This Baby Boomer coming-of-age story has it all: sex, drugs, hippies, a
harrowing fall from grace, and a heartening turnaround. Praised by New
York Times bestselling author Anne Lamott, Evans’s memoir begins in the

mid-1950s and hurtles through to the ‘90s with a colorful cast of charac-
ters. Her journey is studded with a host of tragic losses and bad decisions,

but Julie’s self-deprecating writing style leavens the tale with laugh-out-
loud humor.

While still a teen in Rochester, MN, Julie loses her mother to alcohol poi-
soning and her dad to cancer. At age 17 she marries a newly sober heroin

addict and the young couple move to Arizona. After finding her husband
nodded out on the living room couch with a needle in his arm, Julie pulls

up stakes and returns to Minnesota. From this point her journey of self-
discovery veers to Key West, then to New Orleans, back to Minneapolis

and on to New York City. Along the way, as stress mounts from the fall-
out of her many dubious choices, Julie develops addictions to sex, nico-
tine, alcohol and cocaine.

A move to Woodstock, New York, starts her on a long path to recovery.

Evans takes up residence on Joy Road and begins to rescue and rehabili-
tate wild animals. The wise counsel of a country pastor and Julie’s pro-
gram of service to others—both animals and humans—gradually bring

her life into focus. Drawing an a newfound sense of peace, she becomes a
successful massage therapist, married to a Woodstock musician.
Readers will find themselves cheering her along as Julie overcomes the
final barriers to getting clean and sober. Joy Road powerfully captures the
highs and lows of the addict’s ride, and articulates one woman’s path to
recovery. This book, coming in August from WoodstockArts, will inspire
readers everywhere.

About the Author (www.wordsbyjulieevans.com)
Julie Evans, MA, is a licensed massage therapist, ordained deacon, healer, and

freelance writer. Her work has appeared in Healthy You magazine, Pulse maga-
zine (Voices from the Heart of Medicine), Fictionique, NPR’s The Roundtable,

the Woodstock Times, and Writers Read Online. Later this year her piece “Sacred
Touch” will be published in the anthology Into Sanity: Essays About Mental Health,
Mental Illness, and Living in Between (Talking Writing Books, 2019). Julie lives in
Woodstock, NY, with her husband, Tommy Porto, and their cat, Marietta.

Event Date: 
Saturday, August 10, 2019 - 4:00pm
Address: 
Mescal Hornbeck Community Center
Woodstock, NY 12498
Books: 
Joy Road: My Journey from Addiction to Recovery Cover Image
$19.95
Email or call for price.
ISBN: 9780967926896
Published: Woodstock Arts - August 1st, 2019