About this product

When Michelle Robinson was little, her world was the South Side of Chicago, where she and her brother Craig shared a bedroom in their parents' first-floor apartment, where they played tag in the park, and where her parents, Fraser and Marian Robinson, raised her to be an upstanding and confident young woman. But life soon took her to very different worlds, including the lecture halls of Princeton, where she first felt what it meant to be the only black woman in the room, to the glass office tower where she worked as a top corporate lawyer - and where one summer morning a law student named Barack Obama appeared in front of her desk and shook up her carefully planned life.

In this book, Michelle Obama describes for the first time the early years of her marriage, trying to balance her work and family on the one hand, and her husband's fast-moving political career on the other. She makes us part of their conversations about whether he should run for president and, when he does, about her role as a popular but often criticized figure in his campaign. She tells it all with charm, humour and unusual candour, giving a vivid inside account of both her family's historic launch into the global spotlight and their life in the White House during those eight momentous years, during which she got to know her country and the country got to know her.

My story takes us through the humble kitchens of Iowa and the ballroom of Buckingham Palace, through moments of staggering sadness and astonishing resilience. It takes us deep into the soul of that unique, trailblazing personality who strives to remain genuine and to put her personal power and voice in the service of higher ideals. By telling her story honestly and courageously, she challenges us all: who are we and what do we want to become?

Author: Michelle Obama