Following the loss of her father to cancer, her brother to an accident, and her five-year-old daughter, Grace, to sudden illness, author Ann Hood felt impelled to explore the theme of grief through writing. In an interview with BiblioStar.TV, Hood eloquently explains what she learned through her personal journey: “The heart, I think, can hold grief and joy in equal measure.”
Hood’s writing embodies this belief. Sadness finds its way into the lives of her characters, but so does the promise of healing. In each of the following stories, the process of loss, grief, and recovery takes on distinct but equally poignant forms.
Libby Harper abandons her family to chase her dream of fame, an opportunity she feels has been denied to her by suburban life. Her husband, Tom, and their children are crushed. However, after meeting a woman and her terminally ill daughter, Tom’s family finds an unexpected path to healing.
Two women struggle with love: Katherine, who leaves her husband at the altar, and Lucy, who thinks she may be falling out of love with her boyfriend. All the while attempting to come to terms with their decisions, Katherine, Lucy, and their friend Julia search for love and meaning.
Alexander Porter is on the phone with his six-year-old son when he is struck by lightning and killed. The freak accident affects everyone in Alex’s family, especially his young son, who goes silent. In the wake of the tragedy, Alex’s mother, father, ex-wife, sister, and son must discover their own paths to moving on.
After being married for less than a year, Olivia is widowed when her husband dies in a car accident. One day, a pregnant teenager named Ruby appears in Olivia’s cottage, seeking a safe haven. Having just lost one family member, Olivia sees an opportunity to fill the void—by adopting Ruby’s baby.
A memoir, Do Not Go Gentle recounts Hood’s search for a cure for her father’s cancer. She seeks a miracle, journeying from Rhode Island to El Santuario de Chimayo, New Mexico, in search of dirt reputed to contain astonishing healing powers. The tale, according to its author, is a “spiritual Odyssey, with a secret history all its own.”
Hood’s compassion, grace, and fluid prose reveal the complexity and depth of emotion that so often accompany heartbreak and healing. She has won awards for the best American spiritual writing, travel writing, and food writing; the Paul Bowles Prize for Short Fiction; and two Pushcart Prizes. Author of the bestselling novels The Knitting Circle, The Red Thread, and The Obituary Writer, Hood now lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with her husband and their children.
Encounter sympathetic characters and vivid prose in new ebooks by Ann Hood, available here today.