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“To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends—this is an experience you must not miss.”

—Bill W., Alcoholics Anonymous

Women have been central to Alcoholics Anonymous from its inception. Many women, not necessarily alcoholic, provided inspiration, direction and support as the foundation of AA was being established. Nevertheless, in the early years, alcoholic women who came to AA seeking help for themselves generally found a Fellowship of men. The stories that these women tell are profiles in courage, as they struggle, and ultimately succeed, in claiming their seats in AA and their sobriety.

Voices of Women in AA is a collection of 61 stories that were originally published in Grapevine. They are organized into chapters devoted to early AA, spirituality, sponsorship, life changes, relationships, family, careers and friendships. The book concludes with a chapter devoted to women’s meetings.

Chapter One features stories by or about non-alcoholic women who contributed to AA early in its history. Some of their names, such as Lois Wilson, Anne Smith and Henrietta Seiberling, will likely be familiar. Other readers may be encountering these names for the first time.

Chapter Two puts the reader into the shoes of some of the earliest alcoholic women who came to AA seeking help for themselves. They were pioneers. Their stories leave an important legacy of AA recovery. Some of these early struggles can seem like ancient history to us now, since women alcoholics quickly find their seats in the rooms of AA every day. The remaining chapters turn our attention to the challenges for AA women in facing “life on life’s terms” in sobriety, often involving the very concerns that once fueled their drinking. Here, sober women write about repairing family relationships, healing abuse from the past, building friendships with other sober women, exploring romance, having careers and dreams and pursuing them, and the value of women’s meetings.

In the Big Book, the chapter “A Vision for You” states: “Some day we hope that every alcoholic who journeys will find a fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous at his destination.” Indeed, Voices of Women in AA chronicles the journeys of alcoholic women who did find the AA Fellowship to have sober, meaningful lives.