Overview

A Black mother bumps up against the limits of everything she thought she believed--about science and medicine, about motherhood, and about her faith--in search of the truth about her son. One morning, Tophs, Taylor Harris's round-cheeked, lively twenty-two-month-old, wakes up listless, only lifting his head to gulp down water. She rushes Tophs to the doctor, ignoring the part of herself, trained by years of therapy for generalized anxiety disorder, that tries to whisper that she's overreacting. But at the hospital, her maternal instincts are confirmed: something is wrong with her boy, and Taylor's life will never be the same. With every question the doctors answer about Tophs's increasingly troubling symptoms, more arise, and Taylor dives into the search for a diagnosis. She spends countless hours trying to navigate health and education systems that can be hostile to Black mothers and children; at night she googles, prays, and interrogates her every action. Some days, her sweet, charismatic boy seems just fine; others, he struggles to answer simple questions. A long-awaited appointment with a geneticist ultimately reveals nothing about what's causing Tophs's drops in blood sugar, his processing delays--but it does reveal something unexpected about Taylor's own health. What if her son's challenges have saved her life? This Boy We Made is a stirring and radiantly written examination of the bond between mother and child, full of hard-won insights about fighting for and finding meaning when nothing goes as expected.

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9798200890507

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Reviews

A medical mystery, love story, parenting memoir, and tale of survival in her stunning debut...A story of acceptance that mesmerizes with its vulnerability. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) Moving...Wholehearted and captivating. -- Bust The author deploys humor and delight to infuse the narrative with nuance and hope, and...makes the book feel like a conversation with a close friend. -- Kirkus Reviews This is a gorgeous, heart-squeezing story of motherhood, family, and faith. -- BookRiot Touches on the sureties and doubts of motherhood...[and] offers insight into inequities in health care and what it means to strive for social justice. -- Library Journal

Author Information

Taylor Harris is a writer, wife, and mom of three who lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her work has appeared in TIME, O Quarterly, the Washington Post, Longreads, The Cut, Romper, Parents, McSweeney's, and other publications.

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