You Could Make This Place Beautiful

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ΓÇó NPR Best Book of the Year ΓÇó Time Best Book of the Year ΓÇó Oprah Daily Best Memoir of the Year ΓÇ£A bittersweet study in both grief and joy.ΓÇ¥ \u00adΓÇöTime ΓÇ£A sparklingly beautiful memoir-in-vignettesΓÇ¥ (Isaac Fitzgerald,New York Times bestselling author) that explores coming of age in your middle ageΓÇöfrom the bestselling poet and author of Keep Moving. ΓÇ£Lifelike a poemis a series of choices.ΓÇ¥ In her memoir You Could Make This Place Beautifulpoet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself. The book begins with one womanΓÇÖs personal heartbreakbut its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhoodtraditional gender rolesand the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes. With the spirit of self-inquiry and empathy sheΓÇÖs known forSmith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secretsangerforgivenessand narrative itself. The power of these pieces is cumulative: page after pagethey build into a larger interrogation of familyworkand patriarchy. You Could Make This Place Beautifullike the work of Deborah LevyRachel Cuskand Gina Frangellois an unflinching look at what it means to live and write our own lives. It is a story about a motherΓÇÖs fierce and constant love for her childrenand a womanΓÇÖs love and regard for herself. Above allthis memoir is ΓÇ£extraordinaryΓÇ¥ (Ann Patchett) in the way that it reveals howin the aftermath of losswe can discover our power and make something new and beautiful.