Without Her

A Chronicle of Grief and Love

Rebecca Spiegel

• Publisher: Milkweed Editions
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781571317704
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

"What is comfort but a filament between past and present with some sort of future implied? In other words, safety. In other words, care. I know it is possible to find these things without her—I know they are there. But it can be so hard to ask. So much is unknown."

Rebecca Spiegel is working as a teacher in New Orleans when she learns of her sister's suicide. Only after the funeral does shock give way to grief—and to many questions. How could Emily do this to herself? How could she have abandoned all those who loved her? And what could have been done differently to prevent this devastating loss?

In the days and weeks that follow, Spiegel embarks on a search for answers. She unpacks family history, documents the last traces of her sister's life, and questions what more she could have done to prevent her death. Unsparingly honest and resistant to simple solutions, "This clear-eyed reckoning offers a path toward understanding what always exists on the other side of grief: the joyful fact of a deep and abiding love" (Camille T. Dungy).

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Acknowledgments