Traveling Solo

“This is a beautiful book, rich in humanity, wisdom, and humor. It is going to help a lot of people.” —Anne Lamott

After years of battling a mysterious illness, Diana Williams chose to end her life. This extraordinary and intimate memoir, written in the months before her death, bravely explores the profound question: How much suffering is enough?

For three decades, Williams relentlessly pursued a cure for the symptoms that plagued her: grinding exhaustion, night sweats that drenched the sheets, brain fog that made her forget her own address, and throbbing headaches and chills that left her bedridden for days. Dozens of specialists diagnosed her with everything from multiple sclerosis to Lyme disease to toxic mold exposure and prescribed grueling, expensive, and ultimately, ineffective treatments.

Hope vanished with each failed therapy, and her symptoms grew worse. Rather than face a life of increasing pain and disability, and after deep contemplation, Williams chose assisted dying at the Swiss nonprofit, Dignitas.

Traveling Solo raises questions millions of people ask, too often in silence: What makes life worth living? How much can one person bear? Most of all, should we afford humans the choice to end their lives on their own terms?

More than a chronicle of one woman’s battle with illness, this is also a story of a family coming to terms with a heartbreaking decision, as well as an ode to abiding friendship.

Published posthumously, Traveling Solo was written to inspire meaningful conversations and compassion for those who choose to die rather than endure continued suffering. It offers a candid portrait of the fragility of life and the preciousness of beauty when one’s days are numbered.

Author Biography

Diana Williams was the founder and executive director of Prison to Employment Connection, a nonprofit organization that provides job readiness training at California’s San Quentin State Prison. She previously worked for more than twenty years in fundraising for organizations, including the Environmental Defense Fund and the Coral Reef Alliance.

Williams’s work stemmed from her profound interest in creating a more equitable and sustainable world. She held an M.A. in counseling psychology from Columbia University, was a certified life coach, and served as a hospice counselor at Marin General Hospital. Her greatest accomplishments, however, are her two daughters, who light up the world.