Overview

In her literary debut, internationally award-winning writer Courtney Zoffness considers what we inherit from generations past — biologically, culturally, spiritually — and what we pass on to our children Spilt Milk is an intimate, bracing, and beautiful exploration of vulnerability and culpability. Zoffness relives her childhood anxiety disorder as she witnesses it manifest in her firstborn; endures brazen sexual advances by a student in her class; grapples with the implications of her young son's cop obsession; and  challenges her Jewish faith. What role does a mother play, she asks, in raising thoughtful, generous children? Where is the line between privacy and secrecy? And how do the stories we tell inform who we become? These powerful, dynamic essays herald a vital new voice. 'Gentle, playful and laced with subtle wit, these essays are a welcome balm in an insane and un-gentle time.' — Mary Gaitskill, author of This is Pleasure 'I don't know what I love the most about Courtney Zoffness's Spilt Milk. The taut originality of the prose? The acuity of its insights? The daring vulnerability? There is so much I want to say about Spilt Milk, but honestly they're all variations of This is fucking brilliant. Whatever you think this book is, it's more.' — Mat Johnson, author of Pym

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9781952119149

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Reviews

Listed as a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 by Lit Hub, The Millions, and Refinery29. (K)eenly perceptive...masterful essays in a fresh, vulnerable voice readers will want to hear more of. --Publisher's Weekly (starred review) A graceful debut. --Kirkus In her layered storytelling, (Zoffness) brings empathy to every situation and often finds empathy for herself along the way. Spilt Milk is a generous, warm debut from an already prizewinning writer. -Book Page (starred review) I don't know what I love the most about Courtney Zoffness's Spilt Milk. The taut originality of the prose? The acuity of its insights? The daring vulnerability? There is so much I want to say about Spilt Milk, but honestly they're all variations of This is fucking brilliant. Whatever you think this book is, it's more. A debut writer this talented and skilled is an event in itself. --Mat Johnson, author of Pym Gentle, playful and laced with subtle wit, these essays are a welcome balm in an insane and un-gentle time. --Mary Gaitskill, author of This is Pleasure and Bad Behavior Spilt Milk contains the wisdom of a mother, the maturity of an older sister, and the wide-eyed wonder of a small child. It's a magical gift of a collection. --Lisa Taddeo, author of Three Women In these ten musical, open-hearted essays, Courtney Zoffness establishes herself as one of our most soulful, clear-eyed narrators. A lucid dream of a book I wished would never end. --Elisa Albert, author of After Birth Wry and masterful--Spilt Milk examines the multiplicities of self and culture, asking the tough questions with remarkable concision. Courtney Zoffness is a writer of supernatural acuity and wit. --T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls Spilt Milk is current, self-examining, honest, insightful, biting, and funny. Essentially, a perfect book. --Jesse Eisenberg, actor and playwright, author of Bream Gives me Hiccups and Other Stories Perhaps you have heard that being a mother of small children is hard, especially so right now, and finally, here is a book of essays that don't cover up the messiness, the oddness, the love and the sadness and the worry all at once. Unsanitized and beautiful. --Emma Straub, author of All Adults Here and owner of Books Are Magic Courtney Zoffness's collection is written with a fierce and sometimes funny honesty. Zoffness explores motherhood and daughterhood, and how these early attachments make us and unmake us, how they connect us to others--until they are us. --Tiphanie Yanique, author of Land of Love and Drowning These bright, knowing essays spill over with intelligence and wit. Courtney Zoffness traces the dizzying conflict faced by parents--the daily ricochet between burden and joy--and, with a sharply lyric voice, discovers hidden connections between this domestic struggle and the larger cultural and political winds shifting around us. --Ben Marcus, author of Notes from the Fog On one level, Spilt Milk is an extraordinary exploration of the connections, small and large; real and imagined, between childhood and parenthood. On another level, it's irrefutable proof that Courtney Zoffness is a wondrous calculus of a prose writer: keen, inventive, candid, open-hearted, not to mention one helluva stylist. --Mitchell S. Jackson, author of Survival Math Each essay is just as thoughtful and smart and well-told as the last one -- don't miss this. --Alma Magazine

Wry and masterful--Spilt Milk examines the multiplicities of self and culture, asking the tough questions with remarkable concision. Courtney Zoffness is a writer of supernatural acuity and wit. --T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls I don't know what I love the most about Courtney Zoffness's Spilt Milk. The taut originality of the prose? The acuity of its insights? The daring vulnerability? There is so much I want to say about Spilt Milk, but honestly they're all variations of This is fucking brilliant. Whatever you think this book is, it's more. A debut writer this talented and skilled is an event in itself. --Mat Johnson, author of Pym

Listed as a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 by Lit Hub, The Millions, and Refinery29. (K)eenly perceptive...masterful essays in a fresh, vulnerable voice readers will want to hear more of. --Publisher's Weekly (starred review) A graceful debut. --Kirkus I don't know what I love the most about Courtney Zoffness's Spilt Milk. The taut originality of the prose? The acuity of its insights? The daring vulnerability? There is so much I want to say about Spilt Milk, but honestly they're all variations of This is fucking brilliant. Whatever you think this book is, it's more. A debut writer this talented and skilled is an event in itself. --Mat Johnson, author of Pym Gentle, playful and laced with subtle wit, these essays are a welcome balm in an insane and un-gentle time. --Mary Gaitskill, author of This is Pleasure and Bad Behavior Spilt Milk contains the wisdom of a mother, the maturity of an older sister, and the wide-eyed wonder of a small child. It's a magical gift of a collection. --Lisa Taddeo, author of Three Women In these ten musical, open-hearted essays, Courtney Zoffness establishes herself as one of our most soulful, clear-eyed narrators. A lucid dream of a book I wished would never end. --Elisa Albert, author of After Birth Wry and masterful--Spilt Milk examines the multiplicities of self and culture, asking the tough questions with remarkable concision. Courtney Zoffness is a writer of supernatural acuity and wit. --T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls Spilt Milk is current, self-examining, honest, insightful, biting, and funny. Essentially, a perfect book. --Jesse Eisenberg, actor and playwright, author of Bream Gives me Hiccups and Other Stories Perhaps you have heard that being a mother of small children is hard, especially so right now, and finally, here is a book of essays that don't cover up the messiness, the oddness, the love and the sadness and the worry all at once. Unsanitized and beautiful. --Emma Straub, author of All Adults Here and owner of Books Are Magic Courtney Zoffness's collection is written with a fierce and sometimes funny honesty. Zoffness explores motherhood and daughterhood, and how these early attachments make us and unmake us, how they connect us to others--until they are us. --Tiphanie Yanique, author of Land of Love and Drowning These bright, knowing essays spill over with intelligence and wit. Courtney Zoffness traces the dizzying conflict faced by parents--the daily ricochet between burden and joy--and, with a sharply lyric voice, discovers hidden connections between this domestic struggle and the larger cultural and political winds shifting around us. --Ben Marcus, author of Notes from the Fog On one level, Spilt Milk is an extraordinary exploration of the connections, small and large; real and imagined, between childhood and parenthood. On another level, it's irrefutable proof that Courtney Zoffness is a wondrous calculus of a prose writer: keen, inventive, candid, open-hearted, not to mention one helluva stylist. --Mitchell S. Jackson, author of Survival Math

Author Information

Courtney Zoffness won the Sunday Times Short Story Award, an Emerging Writers Fellowship from the Center for Fiction, residency fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, and the Susan Atefat Prize in Creative Nonfiction from Arts & Letters. Her work has appeared in the Paris Review Daily, The Southern Review, Longreads, Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere, and she had Notable Best American Essays in 2018 and 2019. She teaches at Drew University and lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.

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