“She had forgotten how many minutes of motherhood were devoted to this question, even before Edith's accident. Alive now? And now? The deeper Edith's sleep the shallower her life, it seemed. The extraordinary stillness of a sleeping baby! Look for a breath at the stomach, flush at the cheeks. Then Luetta would leave the room, come back. She lost hours to the question. Alive now, now, now?” ChildrenMotherWorryAliveBabyExtraordinary Stillness Book:Bowlaway Source: Bowlaway
“All I can say is, it's a sort of kinship, as though there is a family tree of grief. On this branch, the lost children, on this the suicided parents, here the beloved mentally ill siblings. When something terrible happens, you discover all of the sudden that you have a new set of relatives, people with whom you can speak in the shorthand of cousins.” PeopleChildrenI CanHappensLostSpeakParentGriefTreeTerribleIllBelovedBranchesCousinSiblingKinshipMentally IllShorthandLost Child Author:Elizabeth McCracken
“A Lucky Child is an extraordinary story, simply and beautifully told. Heartbreaking and thrilling, it examines what it means to be human, in every good and awful sense. Perhaps most amazingly of all, Thomas Buergenthal remembers and renders the small mysteries and grand passions of childhood, even a childhood lived under the most horrific circumstances.” HumansMeanChildrenStoriesRememberPassionMysteryChildhoodCircumstancesLuckyExtraordinaryVery GoodAwfulThrillingHeartbreakingMost AmazingHorrificWhat It Means To Be Human Author:Elizabeth McCracken