Susan Cain burst onto the literary scene 10 years ago with the publication of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, which launched an entire Quiet Revolution and a few spin-off titles. For introverts, Quiet has provided validation for those who feel out of place in an extroverted culture and confirmation that introversion has its own strengths, especially for creative people.
Now, Cain may be on to a new movement with her title Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, which was inspired by a very simple question: Why did she find sad, bittersweet music so moving and “strangely uplifting?”
“I guess when I first started asking that question I thought of it as an interesting question,” says Cain, “but not one that would give rise to a fiveyear long research and book project. But I started realizing that the answer to that question or that the question itself was the big question of
