A lyric memoir about motherhood, depression, and writing

THE DARK-ROBED MOTHER is a striking blend of memoir and poetry, grappling with a cyclical high-functioning depression and its profound impact on self and family. It is also a modern descent into the underworld, reckoning with the myth of Demeter and Persephone as it unfolds through lived experience. Poet Rachel Tzvia Back draws on this ancient story of loss, return, and the aching bond between generations to illuminate her journey through decades of living, writing, and mothering with depression. She also explores family history and interviews each of her own children as she seeks to understand depression's mark from generation to generation.

Threading myth through memoir, poetry through prose, Back confronts the question: how do we survive seasons of despair? And can we break the cycles that bind us to sorrow? Singular memories stand out as navigational cairns, and the book calls on the poetry of other writers, summoning language to help retrieve oneself from the depths. THE DARK-ROBED MOTHER is a rare work of intellect and tenderness – a searching, intimate account of the importance of stories, language, and imagination.

Rights Sold:

US: Wesleyan University Press (NA)

Praise:

“Perhaps after writing The Dark-Robed Mother, Rachel Back has found solace in the assurance that by shedding light on her own depression, she has lifted a darkness for some of her readers, giving powerful articulation to an experience that is frightful and unfathomable – unless one is intimately familiar with it.” —Ilana Kurshan in The Wall Street Journal

"A mov­ing mem­oir and impor­tant addi­tion to the lit­er­a­ture of depres­sion. Back coura­geous­ly gives voice to her own and oth­ers’ cries. We hear them. While shed­ding light on a dark, iso­lat­ing ill­ness, Back has writ­ten a mem­oir of great beau­ty and hope." —Jewish Book Council