Bloodroot

"Abandoning disappointment, acquiescing to grace" is what this book is about according to Warland. It traces the beginnings of her mother's declining health and eventual death. Warland recounts how she and her mother were able to overcome old conflicts and differences to discover that dying and death mean more than despair and duty.

Betsy Warland's story is gripping and compelling. The death of a parent is always a shock that leaves behind a residue of grief and loss. It's such an emotionally loaded event that telling it involves the writer in difficult choices. In this book, the author attempts to avoid sentimentality by keeping the language spare.

There are encounters in this book between mother and daughter and daughter and father that will move you as much as anything else you read this year. Warland presents the narrative ... in tiny episodes that offer glimpses into a life without descending into mere vignettes.