BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
SANCTUARY
By EMILY RAPP BLACK
Sanctuary is Emily Rapp Black’s third memoir, following Poster Child and The Still Point of the Turning World. Still Point focused on her young son’s terminal diagnosis of Tay-Sachs disease; Sanctuary begins shortly before his death. Black turns to psychology to understand and relate her experiences of motherhood, confronting the myth of resilience and the idea that one can rebuild one’s own life. It’s a heartbreaking account of a family torn apart—but also of how a mother can find safety and peace after loss. Random House, January 2021, 240 pages, $27 hardcover
CARY GRANT: A BRILLIANT DISGUISE
By SCOTT EYMAN
Scott Eyman, author of multiple books about the Golden Age of Hollywood, presents Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise, a comprehensive biography of the acting legend. Eyman charts Grant’s incredible career as well as his tumultuous childhood—his father was an alcoholic, and his mother was committed to an asylum—in this lucid portrait of a man who struggled to comprehend the meaning of his past against the startling backdrop of his success. Simon & Schuster, October 2020, 576 pages, $35 hardcover
BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN: A STORY OF FAMILY, FEMINISM, AND TREASON
By GINA FRANGELLO
Novelist Gina Frangello has long examined the trials and desires of women. This memoir—which contends with the messiness of a turbulent affair and the collapse of a marriage—delves into the more vulnerable aspects of the writer’s life. Tracing Frangello’s journey as a wife and mother trying to reclaim her own path, Blow Your House Down is about an individual’s turning point and speaks to the frustrating limitations placed on women by society. Counterpoint Press, April 2021, 336 pages, $27 hardcover
YOU’RE LEAVING WHEN? ADVENTURES IN DOWNWARD MOBILITY
By ANNABELLE GURWITCH
Whether in a pandemic or not, life’s challenges don’t often leave much to laugh about, yet Annabelle Gurwitch recognizes the comedy in her attempts to retry dating after a divorce and her efforts to bond with her nonbinary college-age child. Through each setback and obstacle, including an episode in which she rents out a room in her home to strangers, Gurwitch remains resilient, ultimately making You’re Leaving When? Adventures in Downward Mobility a story about hope. Counterpoint Press, March 2021, 224 pages, $26 hardcover
RECOLLECTIONS OF MY NONEXISTENCE
By REBECCA SOLNIT
Rebecca Solnit describes her coming-of-age in San Francisco in the 1980s, examining the influences and social movements that allowed her to develop into a prolific writer. Among them were the gay community, literature, the American West, and a lifetime of gender-based harassment and violence. Solnit—whose A Paradise Built in Hell was selected by Alta Journal’s California Book Club—argues in Recollections of My Nonexistence that her experiences in a hostile world inspired her to create a voice that would counteract the societal silencing of women. Penguin Books, March 2021, 256 pages, $16 paperback
DEEP CREEK: FINDING HOPE IN THE HIGH COUNTRY
By PAM HOUSTON
is Pam Houston’s first memoir and a love letter to land, especially the land she ranches, which houses her sheep, horses,
