About this item

In this soul-stirring debut memoir, Maria Mutch explores the miraculous power that care and communication have in the face of the deep, personal isolation that often comes with disability. A chronicle of the witching hours between midnight and six a.m., this meditative book takes place during the twoyear period in which Mutch's son Gabriel, who is autistic and also has Down syndrome, rarely slept through the night. In this tapestry composed of interwoven memories, we see both Gabriel's difficult childhood and Maria's introduction to the world of multiple disability parenting. As a counterpoint to Gabriel's figurative isolation is the story of Admiral Richard Byrd, the polar explorer who journeyed alone into the Antarctic wilderness in the 1930s. His story creates a shared and powerful language for the experience of feeling alone.



About the Author

Maria Mutch

Maria Mutch is the author of Know the Night, a debut memoir and finalist for the Governor General's Literary Awards 2014. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in Poets & Writers, Guernica Magazine (as well as the first Guernica Annual, a print edition) , Literary Mama, Fiction Writers Review, Ocean State Review, and Necessary Fiction, among others. Born and raised in Canada, she has a degree in visual art from York University. She is currently working on a collection of short stories and lives in Rhode Island.Visit mariamutch.com.



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