The heart folds early : a memoir / Jill Christman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Christman, Jill, 1969- Author.

Series:

American lives

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motherhood.

Mothers--Biography.

Mothers.

Abortion.

Grief.

Bereavement.

maternity.

grief.

mourning.

Christman, Jill, 1969-.

Christman, Jill.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

279 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, [2026]

Summary:

"The Heart Folds Early is the gripping story of one woman's resilient transformation from wild child and wounded teen to hopeful mother of two. Courageous, clear-eyed, tender, and unexpectedly funny, Jill Christman's story folds the mournful recklessness of the young widow she was against the backdrop of her later marriage and new motherhood, including the impossible choice to terminate a half-term pregnancy"-- Provided by publisher.

"This book is about what it means to make a choice. As mothers, how do we carry life and death in our bodies and survive with our hearts intact?The Heart Folds Early is a story of transformation through tragedy, and an examination of the way in which great loss can make us simultaneously fearful and intrepid. Emerging from a childhood that included both devastating sexual abuse and the sustaining joy of being deeply (if imperfectly) loved, Jill Christman's sights were set on building and protecting her own happy family-until her fiancé was killed in a car accident.Christman folds the mournful recklessness of the young widow she was against the backdrop of her later marriage and new motherhood, including the choice to end a half-term pregnancy when a routine ultrasound revealed her baby boy had just half a heart. Courageous, clear-eyed, tender, and unexpectedly funny, Christman's book reflects on her life and asks: What happens when we're afraid the worst thing will happen and then, sometimes, it does? What does it mean to make and live with a heartrending choice? How do we carry life and death in our bodies and survive with our hearts intact?"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Prologue

1. Sweet Home Alabama

2. Grief Is the Gorilla

3. Long Prairie Road and Highway 101

4. I Can't Make You Love Me

5. Tongue and Groove

6. Feminist Fury: An Interlude

7. Testing Begets Testing

8. Becoming the Mother I Am

9. Ways of Seeing

10. Nothing's Going to Change My World

11. Moona's Story

12. The Secret of Secrets

13. The Eighteen-Week Ultrasound

14. Choice

15. Chicago

16. Between Heaven and Earth

17. What If It's a Myth?

18. Painting Faces

19. The Heart Folds Early

20. L.B.

21. Vagina Will Find Vagina

22. The Angel and the Umbilical Rope

23. Give Me Your Hands

Acknowledgments .

ISBN:

9781496246790

1496246799

OCLC:

1525981651

Publisher Number:

90104343850