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Stranger care : a memoir of loving what isn't ours / Sarah Sentilles.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Random House, [2021]Edition: First editionDescription: xv, 404 pages ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780593230039
  • 0593230035
Subject(s):
Contents:
Preface -- Show yourself to be a mother -- Family picture -- One of our own -- Maternal impression -- Family tree -- Homesick -- Families belong together -- Flesh and blood -- Big lost -- Flight risk -- No other way -- A tale of two mothers -- Be the tree -- Our girl -- All her belongings -- Epilogue.
Summary: "May you always feel at home. After their decision not to have a biological child, Sarah Sentilles and her husband, Eric, decided to adopt via the foster care system. Knowing that the goal is reunification with the birth family, Sarah opens their home to a flurry of social workers who question, evaluate, and ultimately prepare them to welcome a child into their family--even if it most likely means giving them up. After years of starts and stops, a phone call finally comes: a three-day old baby girl, in immediate need of a foster family. Sarah and Eric bring this newborn stranger home. "You were never ours," Sarah writes, "yet we belong to each other." A fierce story about love and belonging, Stranger Care shares Sarah's discovery of what it means to take care of the Other--in this case, not just a vulnerable infant, but the birth mother who loves her too. With her trademark "fearless, stirring, rhythmic" (Nick Flynn) prose, the acclaimed author of Draw Your Weapons brings her creative energies to an intimate story, with universal concerns: What does it mean to mother? How can we care for and protect each other? How do we ensure a better future for life on this planet? And if we're all related--tree, bird, star, person--how might we better live?"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 362.734 S478 Available 33111010582597
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 362.734 S478 Available 33111010522668
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE * "A powerful, heartbreaking, necessary masterpiece."--Cheryl Strayed, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wild

The moving story of what one woman learned from fostering a newborn--about injustice, about making mistakes, about how to better love and protect people beyond our immediate kin

May you always feel at home.

After their decision not to have a biological child, Sarah Sentilles and her husband, Eric, decide to adopt via the foster care system. Despite knowing that the system's goal is the child's reunification with the birth family, Sarah opens their home to a flurry of social workers who question them, evaluate them, and ultimately prepare them to welcome a child into their lives--even if it means most likely having to give the child back. After years of starts and stops, and endless navigation of the complexities and injustices of the foster care system, a phone call finally comes: a three-day-old baby girl named Coco, in immediate need of a foster family. Sarah and Eric bring this newborn stranger home.

"You were never ours," Sarah tells Coco, "yet we belong to each other."

A love letter to Coco and to the countless children like her, Stranger Care chronicles Sarah's discovery of what it means to mother--in this case, not just a vulnerable infant but the birth mother who loves her, too. Ultimately, Coco's story reminds us that we depend on family, and that family can take different forms. With prose that Nick Flynn has called "fearless, stirring, rhythmic," Sentilles lays bare an intimate, powerful story with universal concerns: How can we care for and protect one another? How do we ensure a more hopeful future for life on this planet? And if we're all related--tree, bird, star, person--how might we better live?

Includes bibliographical references (pages 391-404).

Preface -- Show yourself to be a mother -- Family picture -- One of our own -- Maternal impression -- Family tree -- Homesick -- Families belong together -- Flesh and blood -- Big lost -- Flight risk -- No other way -- A tale of two mothers -- Be the tree -- Our girl -- All her belongings -- Epilogue.

"May you always feel at home. After their decision not to have a biological child, Sarah Sentilles and her husband, Eric, decided to adopt via the foster care system. Knowing that the goal is reunification with the birth family, Sarah opens their home to a flurry of social workers who question, evaluate, and ultimately prepare them to welcome a child into their family--even if it most likely means giving them up. After years of starts and stops, a phone call finally comes: a three-day old baby girl, in immediate need of a foster family. Sarah and Eric bring this newborn stranger home. "You were never ours," Sarah writes, "yet we belong to each other." A fierce story about love and belonging, Stranger Care shares Sarah's discovery of what it means to take care of the Other--in this case, not just a vulnerable infant, but the birth mother who loves her too. With her trademark "fearless, stirring, rhythmic" (Nick Flynn) prose, the acclaimed author of Draw Your Weapons brings her creative energies to an intimate story, with universal concerns: What does it mean to mother? How can we care for and protect each other? How do we ensure a better future for life on this planet? And if we're all related--tree, bird, star, person--how might we better live?"-- Provided by publisher.

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