First published 2024
Lynne Sharon Schwartz views her existence not as one flowing narrative but as a collection of disrupted moments that shaped her. She explores the complexities of translation work, dissects major surgery with sharp humor, and chronicles her recovery from the September 11 attacks through music lessons. Her writing captures hours spent debating with friends in local bars over drinks and cigarettes. From her beginnings as an eight-year-old writer through the challenges of balancing motherhood with her craft, Schwartz examines each phase with unflinching honesty. She recalls trying to decode her parents as a teenager, confronting the overwhelming nature of raising children while pursuing writing, and wrestling with questions of mortality as she ages. Her literary sensibility guides her examination of universal experiences filtered through her particular circumstances. Schwartz applies the same rigorous analysis to herself that she brings to her other subjects, refusing to avoid uncomfortable revelations about growing up in an evolving world.
Genres: literary-fiction, autobiography, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Period: September 11
208 pages · Hardcover · Delphinium Books