I Will Not Leave You Comfortless

“One of the most daring and affecting memoirs I’ve read.” —Kevin Brockmeier “Like walking through the pastures of your childhood and discovering they were bigger, not smaller, than you recall.” —Leif Enger“Jackson writes about Missouri as the young Hemingway wrote about Michigan: with a clear eye, with hard-edged nostalgia, and (here’s the thing) with brilliance.” —Darin StraussTHE ELEVENTH YEAR OF LIFE brings Jeremy Jackson his first love, the loss of his grandmother, and his sister’s departure for college—seemingly ordinary events that erode his innocence in a way that will never be fully repaired. In tenderhearted, steadfast prose, he recalls the pastoral wonders of his rural childhood: thunderstorms roaring of the prairie, fresh milk in bottles, bicycle rides in September sunlight, and the horizon vanishing behind tall grasses. At once elegiac and startlingly direct, these fluid and powerful missives evoke the pain and beauty of childhood. With storytelling informed by a profound sense of place and an emotional memory startlingly vivid, readers young and old will be transported and transformed by this coming-of-age tale.JEREMY JACKSON is the author of the novels Life at These Speeds and In Summer, as well as three cookbooks, including The Cornbread Book, which was nominated for a James Beard Award. He has also written novels for teenagers under the name Alex Bradley. He lives in Iowa.Reading Group Guide includedCover design by Christian FuenfhausenCover photos © Shutterstock