Far from a self-help manual, this memoir by a witty novelist grapples with a personal tragedy, which is, like all tragedies, unrepeatable and heart wringing in its particularities. She tells the wrenching story of her first pregnancy set against the backdrop of emigre life in rural France, which ended in her child’s full term stillbirth. Rather than clobbering you over the head with sadness, her story - intricately structured, insightfully specific - keeps you curious and instructs in compassion. You'll surely cry, but then you'll know just how to cry with the people around you when their own stories turn sad - or when your own does.