Overview

This soul-stirring debut memoir explores the experience of isolation and the miraculous power of care and communication in its midst. 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. In these three characters—mother, son, and explorer—Mutch reveals overlapping and layered themes of solitude that, far from driving us apart, enlighten, uplift, and connect.

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9781476702742

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Reviews

Amoving memoir of maternal love and devotion, Know the Night , exploresisolation and loneliness in beautifully imagistic prose. Thesleepless parent of a wordless child , Maria Mutch finds solace in theexperience of explorer, Admiral Richard Byrd as he struggled alone in continualnight at the South Pole. Mutch weaves Byrd's fascinating narrative like a spellinto her own deeply affecting story of mothering a child with autism and DownSyndrome. This is a book full of hope, light, and companionship for survivingthe small hours of the night.--Kelle Groom, author of I Wore the Ocean in the Shape of a Girl

A moving memoir of maternal love and devotion, Know the Night, explores isolation and loneliness in beautifully imagistic prose. The sleepless parent of a wordless child, Maria Mutch finds solace in the experience of explorer Admiral Richard Byrd as he struggled alone in continual night at the South Pole. Mutch weaves Byrd's fascinating narrative like a spell into her own deeply affecting story of mothering a child with autism and Down Syndrome. This is a book full of hope, light, and companionship for surviving the small hours of the night. --Kelle Groom, author of I Wore the Ocean in the Shape of a Girl

Author Information

Maria Mutch's memoir, Know the Night, was a finalist for both the Governor General’s Literary Awards and the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, and was listed in The Globe and Mail’s Top 100 and Maclean’s Best Reads. Her debut short story collection, When We Were Birds, received stellar reviews. Her writing has appeared in Guernica, The Malahat Review, and Poets & Writers. She lives in Rhode Island with her husband and two sons. Visit her at MariaMutch.com or follow her on Twitter @Maria_Mutch.

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