Book description
The Ryries have suffered a loss: the death of a baby just fifty-seven
hours after his birth. Without words to express their grief, the
parents, John and Ricky, try to return to their previous lives.
Struggling to regain a semblance of normalcy for themselves and for
their two older children, they find themselves pretending not only that
little has changed, but that their marriage, their family, have always
been intact. Yet in the aftermath of the baby's death, long-suppressed
uncertainties about their relationship come roiling to the surface. A
dreadful secret emerges with reverberations that reach far into their
past and threaten their future. Moving, psychologically acute and
gorgeously written, The Grief of Others asks how we balance personal
autonomy with the intimacy of relationships, how we balance private
decisions with the obligations of belonging to a family, and how we take
measure of our own sorrows in a world rife with suffering. This novel
shows how one family, by finally allowing itself to experience the
shared quality of grief, is able to rekindle tenderness and hope. Leah
Hager Cohen is the author of four non-fiction books, including Train Go
Sorry and Glass, Paper, Beans, and three novels, most recently House
Lights. The New York Times has named four of her books 'Notable Books of
the Year'. She is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book
Review.
