This Is Not a Pity Memoir

In this raw and incandescent debut, screenwriter Morgan reflects on the emotional turmoil and growth of rebuilding a life with her partner after he was diagnosed with Capgras syndrome, a rare psychological illness that made him believe she was an imposter. When a seizure led her partner of 20 years, Jacob, to be put into a medically induced coma for six months, Morgan was informed that his “brain does not look like yours... anymore.” Upon waking up, he slowly remembered their children and family, but not Morgan. With brutal and hypnotic prose, Morgan oscillates between the grueling processes of regaining Jacob’s trust upon his return home (“One day I suggest he quiz me... I get every answer right”) and providing him round-the-clock care while isolating due to the Covid-19 pandemic; the beginning of their relationship, when their passion was immediate and intense; and her own harrowing struggle with stage 3 breast cancer. “What no one tells you about proper unfolding tragedy is that it is scary, and adrenalizing,” she writes. “But mainly it is boring.” Delving into her “mawkish... relationship with mishap” and desperation to preserve the ephemeral, Morgan surfaces with a profound look at the complexities of love, even at its most mundane. Equal parts savage and sublime, this obliterates notions of memory and intimacy with grace and precision. (June)