Dispatches from Grief: A Mother's Journey Through the Unthinkable

Dispatches from Grief: A Mother's Journey Through the Unthinkable

On a February morning, Danielle Crittenden’s world cleaved in two: the life before her daughter Miranda was found dead in her Brooklyn apartment, and the life after. In this luminous memoir, Crittenden maps the territory of profound loss with the clarity of a foreign correspondent filing reports from a country no parent ever wishes to visit. With unflinching honesty and unexpected grace, she chronicles not just the shattering impact of a child's death, but the strange afterlife of grief itself —the way it infiltrates grocery stores and social media, transforms old friendships and forges new ones, and ultimately reshapes the mourner as fundamentally as it has reshaped the world. Here is grief in all its terrible specificity: the police call that changes everything, the surreal task of choosing a burial dress, the well-meaning friends who offer advice about “stages” that don't exist. But here too is love in its most distilled form—a mother’s meditation on a daughter who commanded dinner tables at twelve, who once interviewed Dick Cheney with a child’s notebook, who transformed from a precocious girl into a sparkling young woman living her dreams in New York. Crittenden brings a journalist’s eye to the landscape of loss, coining the perfect term for those who try to explain grief to the grieving (“griefsplaining”), finding dark comedy in a hotel clerk's relentless cheerfulness, and discovering that C.S. Lewis told more truth about mourning in seventy-three pages than a library of self-help books. She writes of joining what she calls “the alternative universe”—parents who have lost children—and of the terrible wisdom its members share. Written with the narrative power that has made Crittenden one of our most incisive observers of family and culture, Dispatches from Grief stands as both a singular portrait of loss and a universal exploration of love’s aftermath. It will speak to anyone who has loved deeply, lost profoundly, and wondered how to continue when continuation seems impossible. For those walking through their own valleys of grief, this book offers not false comfort but true companionship. For those who love someone who is grieving, it provides a window into a world that can only be understood from within. And for all readers, it serves as a reminder that our time with those we love is both more precious and more precarious than we dare imagine. On a February morning, Danielle Crittenden's world cleaved in two: the life before her daughter Miranda was found dead in her Brooklyn apartment, and the life after. In Dispatches from Grief , Crittenden maps the landscape of loss with a journalist's eye and a mother's heart, chronicling not only the shattering impact of a child's death but the strange afterlife of grief itself--how it reshapes friendships, routines, and the very sense of self. With unflinching honesty and unexpected grace, she captures grief in its terrible specificity--the police call, the burial dress, the well-meaning "griefsplaining"--as well as love in its most distilled form. Written with luminous prose and dark humor, Dispatches from Grief is both a singular portrait of loss and a universal meditation on love's aftermath, offering not false comfort but true companionship to anyone who has loved deeply and lost profoundly. Danielle Crittenden is a journalist, author, and former host of the podcast The Femsplainers , known for her incisive and original commentary on women, family, and modern life. In addition to writing a popular monthly newsletter on Substack, her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal , The New York Times , The Washington Post , The Atlantic , and more. She is the author of four previous books, including What Our Mothers Didn't Tell Us: Why Happiness Eludes the Modern Woman , praised by Vanity Fair as the work of "one of the most important new thinkers about women and family." Born in Toronto, she now lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, journalist and author David Frum.