# Elizabeth Gilbert’s black volcanic sands of Costa Rica

An episode of [The Clearing with Katherine May](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1516642192), 19 Oct 2026, 1 h 00 min.

Audio: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/60059ad176b566154159c5d5/e/6ad1490b94a3daa98ecdae4c/media.mp3

Most of you will need no introduction to Elizabeth Gilbert. The international best-selling author of Eat Pray Love and Big Magic has sold a staggering 25 million books worldwide and is very much ‘a phenomenon’. In this truly special episode Elizabeth speaks to Katherine fresh from a six month sabbatical. A sabbatical taken after she lived through, and then wrote about, one of the most difficult periods of her life. The resulting memoir - All the Way to the River - has become the centre of much debate and critique and the toll it’s taken on Elizabeth is clear. With raw honesty, Elizabeth describes why she had to go away, feeling like she’d been ‘dragged through’ the process of writing her memoir and its resulting publication. She took herself to a very real Clearing - where she banned herself from working, doing or making. She contrasts it with her imaginary version, set along the volcanic beaches of Costa Rica, sea to the right, jungle to the left. Katherine and Elizabeth also talk about why women over fifty are quitting everything, the power of covens, being an introvert in an extrovert’s body and why collective housing (in Elizabeth’s case) or the nunnery (in Katherine’s case) would be the ultimate female fantasy lifestyle. With a shared post-break resistance to re-entering the world via the medium of podcast recording, they do it anyway. The result is an intimate and powerful episode full of the kinds of insight only Elizabeth Gilbert can offer. Links from the episode: Elizabeth’s website where you can find her books https://www.elizabethgilbert.com/ Elizabeth’s Instagram The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel The Shiva Nataraja Katherine’s new book, Tending: How Care Binds the World is out in March and you can pre-order it here https://katherine-may.co.uk/tending Visit The Clearing website www.theclearingpod.com for a full transcript, to discover how to enjoy our bonus episodes, our ad free episodes and if you subscribe, how to submit your own idea for a dream retreat. Buy Katherine’s books: Enchantment | Wintering | The Electricity of Every Living Thing: UK / US Follow Katherine on Instagram Visit Katherine’s Website Production Credits Guest Booker and Admin Support - Meghan Hutchins Substack Manager - Rebecca Armstrong Producer - Alice Lloyd Music - The Leaf Library @theleaflibrary Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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