Book of the Week Blog (8/26/2019)

Knock Wood: A Memoir in Essays by Jennifer Militello (Dzanc Books, 2019).

In Knock Wood, the first nonfiction collection by award-winning poet Jennifer Militello, a knock on wood to ward off illness sets in motion a chain of events and memories that call into question the very structure of time. Anchored by a wooden ring, Militello explores her life through the lens of three intertwined elements: the story of a mentally ill aunt in an abusive marriage; a high school romance with a boy who eventually dies of a heroin overdose; and an extra-marital affair characterized by an otherworldly connection. Cause and effect reverse as significant events--an arrest for a felony committed in high school, a trip by train to meet an illicit lover, and a suicide attempt on those same New York tracks--seem to influence one another outside of time and space. As Militello delicately threads each memory to the next, she explores the themes of family damage and the precarious ties of love. -- Publisher's blurb.

NH author Jennifer Militello will be visiting Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, NH on Thursday, September 19th, 2019 at 7pm.