Charlotte Donlon goes behind the scenes and provides additional information about Chapter Eleven of her first book, The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other.

This chapter is about a term Germans have for intense loneliness, for a feeling of utter abandonment: mutterseelenallein. Translated, it means “your mother’s soul has left you,” and it’s used in the context of being so alone that no soul—not even your mother’s—is near.

I hope you enjoy this behind-the-scenes peek at The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. You can buy The Great Belonging wherever you prefer to buy books.

Here's a bit about The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other.

Charlotte Donlon is a writer, a spiritual director for writers, and the founder and host of the Our Faith in Writing podcast and website. Charlotte’s writing and work are rooted in noticing how art helps us belong to ourselves, others, God, and the world. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. You can subscribe to her newsletter and connect with her onTwitter and Instagram.