Next Time You Come Home

In NEXT TIME YOU COME HOME, Lisa Dordal distills one hundred eighty letters she received from her mother over a seventeen-year period into short, meditative entries that reflect upon motherhood, marriage, grief, the beauty of the natural world, same-sex relationships, and the passage of time. A newly recovered trove of letters is the source material for Next Time You Come Home, but the collection s true genius lies in the communion of mother and daughter across time. In distilling her late mother s letters to their loving essence, Lisa Dordal focuses not on the nighttime mother who drank until her speech was slurred but on the vibrant, nurturing daytime mother who taught her how to love the world. This is a radical compassion that heals, offering understanding without excuses or justifications, love without benchmarks or conditions. From its haunting title onward, Next Time You Come Home is an utter original. Margaret Renkl