Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story

Bestseller Jamison (The Empathy Exams) chronicles in this exquisite memoir the dramatic shift her life took following the birth of her daughter and the end of her marriage. After giving birth three weeks before her due date in an emergency C-section, Jamison felt overwhelmingly grateful her daughter survived, even as she struggled with difficulties breastfeeding and other challenges of caring for a newborn. Then the real pain started: just over a year after her daughter was born, Jamison’s marriage to her husband, “C,” disintegrated as his anger grew more intense, and she began divorce proceedings. Two post-divorce boyfriends—“the tumbleweed” and “the ex-philosopher”—entered the picture, then exited. Throughout, Jamison is brutally honest about the obstacles to balancing creative fulfillment, parenting, dating, and sobriety, utilizing her beguiling command of language to spotlight feelings often obscured in other accounts of motherhood (“Sometimes motherhood tricked me into feeling virtuous because I was always taking care of someone. But it didn’t make me virtuous at all. It made me feral and ruthless”). Her soul-searching is sure to inspire readers seeking to find the sweet spot between living for their children and living for themselves. By turns funny, poignant, harrowing, and joyful, this standout personal history isn’t easily forgotten. Agent: Jin Auh, Wylie Agency. (Feb.)