Child of Earth and Starry Heaven - Forthcoming April, 2025
Winner of the Wandering Aengus Book Award in Nonfiction
For readers of The Still Point of the Turning World and Tuesdays with Morrie, a profound and moving memoir about motherhood, memory, and memory loss.
When Annette’s mother, Helena, starts to forget things she’s always known, Annette researches ways to keep her mother from losing touch with the world. The book chronicles Helena’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease, looking to mythology, science, literature, and history to find meaning and beauty even as her cognition fails.
James Brown, author of Apology to the Young Addict, calls the book “a hauntingly powerful work of the sort only the very best of writers may hope to achieve in a lifetime,” while Harvard neuroscientist Daniel L. Schacter finds it “an essential book that both moves and informs.”
CHILD OF EARTH AND STARRY HEAVEN is the story of a daughter coming to terms with her mother’s dementia. Sad and joyous, it is a meditation on what makes us human.
"The author writes with the probing lyricism of a poet... Readers will admire Binder's refusal of sentimentality, observant eye and determination to grasp answers that seem always on the verge of evaporation. An illuminating and moving meditation on dementia."
--Kirkus ("Our Verdict: GET IT.")
"How can a book of grief so profoundly embolden our senses? This writing draws our attention to every precious moment of a life, and in doing so, enriches our own immeasurably. Read L. Annette Binder's devastatingly exhilarating chronicle of her mother Helena's last days--it will remind you to breathe, to be stunned that you can breathe."
--Michelle Latiolais, author of Widow and She
"Binder turns the sadness of loss and tragedy into a thing of great beauty…This is a hauntingly powerful work of the sort only the very best of writers may hope to achieve in a lifetime."
--James Brown, author of Apology to the Young Addict
"Filled with rich insight into the importance of memory and consequences of forgetting, Child of Earth and Starry Heaven is an essential book that both moves and informs."
--Daniel L. Schacter, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of The Seven Sins of Memory Updated Edition (2021)
"In prose that deftly combines personal memory with research and poetry, Binder weaves a tapestry that reveals the many textures of love."
--Brenda Miller, author of A Braided Heart: Essays on Writing and Form
"A beautiful and deeply moving memoir about a mother's descent into Alzheimer's Dementia and a daughter's quest to honor her mother through time ... elegant, clear, purposeful, and wise. I didn't want the book to end."
--Sandell Morse, author of The Spiral Shell
"A gorgeous memoir of her mother's journey through Alzheimer's...sensitive, thoughtful, and intelligent. This is an important read for all adult children to be prepared for their parents' possible future."
--Traci HalesVass, Host of NPR podcast, Write On Four Corners
"A profound meditation on identity and consciousness ... leaves the reader full of optimism and thankful for the moments of brightness.”
--Pamela Klinger-Horn, Valley Bookseller and Host of Literature Lovers' Night Out
"Compassionate, filled with curiosity and love, all rendered with sure and gentle strokes.”
--Suzanne M. Lang, Host of the NPR podcast, A Novel Idea
"A complete compendium of literary comfort and practical guidance ... suffused with warmth and with deep insight.”
--Eileen MacDougall, Host of Book Stew
"Filled with love, vulnerability, and strength... This is a very, very special story that will leave a poignant mark on your heart."
--Tina Panik, Avon Public Library (Connecticut)
For readers of The Still Point of the Turning World and Tuesdays with Morrie, a profound and moving memoir about motherhood, memory, and memory loss.
When Annette’s mother, Helena, starts to forget things she’s always known, Annette researches ways to keep her mother from losing touch with the world. The book chronicles Helena’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease, looking to mythology, science, literature, and history to find meaning and beauty even as her cognition fails.
James Brown, author of Apology to the Young Addict, calls the book “a hauntingly powerful work of the sort only the very best of writers may hope to achieve in a lifetime,” while Harvard neuroscientist Daniel L. Schacter finds it “an essential book that both moves and informs.”
CHILD OF EARTH AND STARRY HEAVEN is the story of a daughter coming to terms with her mother’s dementia. Sad and joyous, it is a meditation on what makes us human.
"The author writes with the probing lyricism of a poet... Readers will admire Binder's refusal of sentimentality, observant eye and determination to grasp answers that seem always on the verge of evaporation. An illuminating and moving meditation on dementia."
--Kirkus ("Our Verdict: GET IT.")
"How can a book of grief so profoundly embolden our senses? This writing draws our attention to every precious moment of a life, and in doing so, enriches our own immeasurably. Read L. Annette Binder's devastatingly exhilarating chronicle of her mother Helena's last days--it will remind you to breathe, to be stunned that you can breathe."
--Michelle Latiolais, author of Widow and She
"Binder turns the sadness of loss and tragedy into a thing of great beauty…This is a hauntingly powerful work of the sort only the very best of writers may hope to achieve in a lifetime."
--James Brown, author of Apology to the Young Addict
"Filled with rich insight into the importance of memory and consequences of forgetting, Child of Earth and Starry Heaven is an essential book that both moves and informs."
--Daniel L. Schacter, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of The Seven Sins of Memory Updated Edition (2021)
"In prose that deftly combines personal memory with research and poetry, Binder weaves a tapestry that reveals the many textures of love."
--Brenda Miller, author of A Braided Heart: Essays on Writing and Form
"A beautiful and deeply moving memoir about a mother's descent into Alzheimer's Dementia and a daughter's quest to honor her mother through time ... elegant, clear, purposeful, and wise. I didn't want the book to end."
--Sandell Morse, author of The Spiral Shell
"A gorgeous memoir of her mother's journey through Alzheimer's...sensitive, thoughtful, and intelligent. This is an important read for all adult children to be prepared for their parents' possible future."
--Traci HalesVass, Host of NPR podcast, Write On Four Corners
"A profound meditation on identity and consciousness ... leaves the reader full of optimism and thankful for the moments of brightness.”
--Pamela Klinger-Horn, Valley Bookseller and Host of Literature Lovers' Night Out
"Compassionate, filled with curiosity and love, all rendered with sure and gentle strokes.”
--Suzanne M. Lang, Host of the NPR podcast, A Novel Idea
"A complete compendium of literary comfort and practical guidance ... suffused with warmth and with deep insight.”
--Eileen MacDougall, Host of Book Stew
"Filled with love, vulnerability, and strength... This is a very, very special story that will leave a poignant mark on your heart."
--Tina Panik, Avon Public Library (Connecticut)
L. Annette Binder was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States as a child. She holds degrees in Classics and law from Harvard, an MA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley and an MFA from the Programs in Writing at UC Irvine. Her short story collection Rise (Sarabande) received the Mary McCarthy Prize, and her stories have been included in the Pushcart and O. Henry Prize Anthologies. Her debut novel The Vanishing Sky (Bloomsbury) was a New York Times Book Review Selection for Summer and received the Eyelands International Book Award. She lives in New Hampshire with her family.