In Wild (2012), Cheryl Strayed wrote one of the most financially successful memoirs ever. Strayed published another book in 2012 called Tiny Beautiful Things, a collection of self-help essays she wrote anonymously on the website of The Rumpus, a literary magazine.
In each essay, Strayed responds to readers' queries—about things like relationships, jobs, romance, sex, and everything else in between—through her pseudonymous identity of "Sugar," who responds to each question with honesty and tenacity. When writing each essay, Strayed took the perspective of "a naked woman standing in a field showing you everything but her face." In other words, Strayed gave readers a window into her soul (but not her identity) when she responded to each question.
Like Wild, Tiny Beautiful Things was received positively by readers and critics, leaving Strayed with two bestsellers in 2012. Viv Groskop of The Guardian said that Strayed's collection made her "laugh out loud" and "gasp with disbelief." Groskop also praised Strayed's writing as "breathtakingly great" and "addictive." The success of Tiny Beautiful Things spawned a podcast of the same name (hosted by Strayed) and a television series based on the book, which will premiere in early April 2023 on streamer Hulu.
