Book cover of The Mother Garden: Stories

Book description

Robin Romm's arresting and resonant stories take on the fundamental themes of the human condition: mortality, loyalty, and love. In fresh and irreverent prose, Romm captures the mo-ments before and after loss, mining the depths of grief with wit and grace.

The stories in The Mother Garden are at once…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Mother Garden as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I keep returning to this collection of stories when I want to get closer to the feeling that flickers between grief and love, which I’ve felt in both large ways and in the small losses that I feel as my kids get older.

Many of the mothers in Romm’s book are dying, but her unwavering attention and humor make these stories feel like a balm, not a wound. There are stories about a man who carries an egg around to test out fatherhood and about a woman planting a crop of mothers in her garden while she grieves her own.…

From Cameron's list on explore the surreal side of parenting.

If you love The Mother Garden...

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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