Overview

In her long-awaited debut memoir, award-winning poet Maggie Smith explores in lyrical vignettes the end of her marriage and the beginning of a surprising new life. It is a story about a mother's fierce and constant love for her children, and a woman's love and regard for herself. Above all, this memoir is an argument for possibility. Smith reveals how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our power and make something new. Something beautiful.

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9781805302452

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This book is extraordinary -- ANN PATCHETT A composite of creativity, motherhood and determination * * New York Times * * Rich in nuance and unrelenting in its honesty, Smith's memoir is a bittersweet study in both grief and joy * * TIME * * Reminds you that you can [ . . . ] survive deep loss, sink into life's deep beauty, and constantly, constantly make yourself new -- GLENNON DOYLE A poet's memoir . . . [Smith] has an uncanny ability to boil down giant ideas into tiny, dense sentences that are both playful and heartbreaking * * SHONDALAND * * Smith turns to prose to chronicle the end of her marriage and the hard, beautiful work of loving and valuing herself * * PEOPLE * * In this lightning bolt of a debut memoir, Maggie Smith gives us the truth of healing in form as much as story: getting through is no pretty, linear narrative. It's one chapter forward and five chapters back. You Could Make This Place Beautiful gave me back a part of myself I thought was gone for good: the knowledge that beauty isn't something out there to find. It's in us -- MEGAN STIELSTRA, author of THE WRONG WAY TO SAVE YOUR LIFE You Could Make This Place Beautiful is a sparklingly brilliant memoir-in-vignettes that only Maggie Smith could write. Yet this is a book for everyone - who among us has never had our world upended by the loss of a relationship? Maggie Smith's powerful mastery of language, and amazing ability to portray life in all its rich messiness, is on full display in this bold, brutally candid, and yes, beautiful, book -- ISAAC FITZGERALD, New York Times bestselling author of DIRTBAG, MASSACHUSETTS A beautiful book . . . stunning * * Oprah Daily * * Beautifully written . . . Smith should be just as celebrated for her prose * * Town and Country * *

This book is extraordinary -- ANN PATCHETT I am in awe of Maggie Smith's memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, for what she is willing to show us. Yes, the writing is keen and gorgeous, and yes, she tells us a hundred truths in every chapter, but most of all she allows us to witness a self crumbling, scattering and renewing . . . [A] generous, beautiful book -- KATHERINE MAY This is a memoir of a woman who recommits to herself after heartbreak, but it's also a meditation on patriarchal power dynamics, a mother's love for her children and what that means in today's world and how to bet on yourself, even and especially when we're told not to. A balm for the soul and a rallying cry for the heart * * Good Housekeeping * * A composite of creativity, motherhood and determination * * New York Times * * Rich in nuance and unrelenting in its honesty, Smith's memoir is a bittersweet study in both grief and joy * * TIME * * [A] meditation on what it means to be a modern woman, this is as beautiful and lyrical as they come * * Red * * Reminds you that you can [ . . . ] survive deep loss, sink into life's deep beauty, and constantly, constantly make yourself new -- GLENNON DOYLE A poet's memoir . . . [Smith] has an uncanny ability to boil down giant ideas into tiny, dense sentences that are both playful and heartbreaking * * SHONDALAND * * Smith turns to prose to chronicle the end of her marriage and the hard, beautiful work of loving and valuing herself * * PEOPLE * * Smith confronts our collective desire for a clean narrative. You Could Make This Place Beautiful shows a writer wondering why we use the narrative vocabulary we have to make sense of life's ups and downs. Smith breaks the fourth wall constantly in her memoir, calling out the real-life moments that feel too on the nose, evaluating the fallout of her husband's infidelity * * Vanity Fair * *

Author Information

Maggie Smith is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books of poetry and prose, including You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Good Bones, Goldenrod, Lamp of the Body, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison and Keep Moving. Her newest book is My Thoughts Have Wings, her debut picture book for children, illustrated by Leanne Hatch. Smith's poems and essays have appeared in the New York Times, New Yorker, Paris Review, TIME, Nation, Atlantic and Best American Poetry. @MaggieSmithPoet | maggiesmithpoet.com

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