By Leslie Lindsay
From NYT opinion writer Margaret Renkel comes the most luscious and unique portrait of a family, how it’s touched by love and loss, and also nature.
~WeekEND Reading~
The Today Show’s “Read With Jenna”
book-club pick for December
A finalist for the Southern Book Prize
Highlighted in year-end lists by The A.V. Club, the New Statesman, the New York Public Library, the Chicago Public Library, BookPage, the Washington Independent Review of Books, and Iowa Public Radio
Growing up in Alabama, Margaret was a devoted reader, an explorer of riverbeds and red-dirt roads, and a fiercely loved daughter. Here, in brief essays, she traces a tender and honest portrait of her complicated parents—her exuberant, creative mother; her steady, supportive father—and of the bittersweet moments that accompany a child’s transition to caregiver.
Braided into the overall narrative, she offers observations on the world surrounding her suburban Nashville home. There’s love and heartache, detailed and gorgeous descriptions of nests, wings, red-tailed hawks, fluffy bunny fur, even snakes and orb spiders, bees, ladybugs, more. These two threads–the human connection and the animal world–haunt and harmonize with each other. The implication: an air astonishment in common things.
Photo by veeterzy on Pexels.com
“Beautifully written, masterfully structured, and brimming with insight into the natural world, Late Migrations can claim its place alongside Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and A Death in the Family. It has the makings of an American classic.”
―Ann Patchett, author of Commonwealth and The Dutch House
I was in awe with this book–which is not your typical, start-to-finish read–but rather a meandering stroll through the woods, through the lens of life and loss, love, and pain. You might be tempted to read LATE MIGRATIONS (Milkweed Editions, July 2019) in one sitting–but don’t. The passages are short but densely layered with meaning, with imagery, and is best digested in small sections. LATE MIGRATIONS is the kind of read that encourages me to look at my own family history, to find the deeper meaning in vignettes of oral history, and also, it inspired me to write.
Gorgeously illustrated by the author’s brother, Billy Renkl, LATE MIGRATIONS is an assured and memorable debut.
For more information, to connect with Margaret Renkel via social media, or to purchase a copy of LATE MIGRATIONS, please visit:
ORDER LINKS:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Margaret Renkl is the author of Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss. She is also a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, where her essays appear each Monday. Her work has also appeared in Guernica, Literary Hub, Oxford American, River Teeth, and The Sewanee Review, among others. A graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Carolina, she lives in Nashville.
You can connect with me, Leslie Lindsay, via these websites:
I hope you do!
- GoodReads
- Facebook: LeslieLindsayWriter
Twitter: @LeslieLindsay1- Email: leslie_lindsay@hotmail.com
- Amazon
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SECOND EDITION OF SPEAKING OF APRAXIA COMING SPRING 2020 FROM WOODBINE HOUSE!
Leslie Lindsay is the award-winning author of SPEAKING OF APRAXIA (Woodbine House, 2012). Her work has been published in Pithead Chapel, Common Ground Review, Cleaver Magazine (craft and CNF), The Awakenings Review, The Nervous Breakdown, Ruminate’s The Waking, Brave Voices Literary Magazine, Manifest-Station, and others. She has been awarded as one of the top 1% reviewers on GoodReads and recognized by Jane Friedman as one of the most influential book reviewers. Since 2013, Leslie has interviewed over 700 bestselling and debut authors on her author interview series. Follow her bookstagram posts @leslielindsay1.
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#memoir #familyhistory #Alabama #Tennessee #nature #naturewriting #alwayswithabook #weekendreading #prosepoetry #personalessays
[Cover and author image retrieved from author’s website 1.24.20. Author photo cred: Heidi Ross. Special thanks to Milkweed Editions for this review copy. Artistic photo of book cover designed and photographed by L.Lindsay. Follow me on Instagram @leslielindsay1 for more like this]
Leslie A. Lindsay| Writer & Creative 