Those were the words Emma would say a few months later, during Kathy’s final moment, leaning in and speaking quietly. The face of the marble woman, the cold chisel creating the folds of the veil—We’ll always be together—and the stag rising suddenly out of the ocean of tall grass and leaping away.

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Acknowledgments

This book was written over many years and in several places—on the grounds of Yaddo and MacDowell, in the Sonoran and the Mojave deserts, and in my barn studio in Rhinebeck. Always at the other end of the table or the phone line was Mary Allen, listening and offering writing encouragement, and always there were my writing students, making me believe that I had something to say and someone who might listen.

And finally, my lucky life would not be possible without Scott Spencer, who brings love, humor, and his own brand of brilliant artistry to every moment we share.

About the Author

Jo Ann Beard is the author of the groundbreaking collection of autobiographical essays The Boys of My Youth and the novel In Zanesville. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Tin House, The Best American Essays, and other magazines and anthologies. She has received a Whiting Foundation Award and nonfiction fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She teaches writing at Sarah Lawrence College.

Also by Jo Ann Beard

In Zanesville

The Boys of My Youth

Praise for
Jo Ann Beard’s

Festival Days

A New York Times Book Review Notable Book

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

A Boston Globe and Literary Hub Best Book of the Year

“Nine beguiling pieces—which seamlessly meld observation and imagination…Few writers are so wise and self-effacing and emotionally honest all in one breath…The stunning final set piece swings from Arizona to Udaipur in India and on to New York as Beard grapples with death, betrayal, and love.”

—Sara Lippmann, Washington Post

“Featuring characters mostly drawn from life confronting illness, loss, violence, and death, this exquisite collection of pieces defies classification, blending intuition and observation into something unaccountably yet undeniably real.”

—New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

“A master of sensory details, Beard also writes with humor, melancholy, and a love of animals that never borders on saccharine…In her work, even everyday moments gleam with significance.”

—Michele Filgate, Los Angeles Times

“Like a hot-water bottle for grief, these honest, beautiful essays and stories take on the death of a beloved animal, a friend’s illness, getting dumped by a partner, and other tragedies. Two unforgettable pieces spotlight a man who escaped a deadly fire and a woman’s long, slow dance with cancer. They’re intimate, intelligent, intense—and ultimately comforting.”

—Kim Hubbard, People (Book of the Week)