Praise for The End is the Beginning "Bialosky delivers a nuanced portrait of her mother, Iris, who died in 2020. [she] approaches the heavy subject matter with a light touch and casually profound prose. Readers will be moved." -- Publisher's Weekly (starred review) "Exquisitely written. [Bialosky] expresses deeply poignant feelings and insights. spellbinding." -- Booklist "[A] daughter's poignant effort to see the whole of [her mother's] life that was often fractured by mental illness and cognitive decline." -- Oprah Daily "[A]n affecting family history of loss and grief.
" -- Kirkus Reviews "This richly sympathetic memoir deserves--and will surely find--a noted position in the history of mother-daughter books through the tender-hearted work of Jill Bialosky." --Vivian Gornick, critically acclaimed author of Fierce Attachments "Reading The End Is the Beginning is like opening a set of nesting dolls. With each lyrical, finely wrought chapter, Jill Bialosky takes us back in time, revealing era after era of her mother's life, from her final days to her girlhood. The End Is the Beginning is as smart and inventive as it is deeply moving. What we find at the center of the story, and the life, is love." --Maggie Smith, New York Times bestselling author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful " Be a lamp or a lifeboat or a ladder , Rumi says. This compassionate, lyrical and clear-eyed memoir is all three. A gift to anyone with a family.
" --Amy Bloom, New York Times bestselling author of In Love "Like Annie Ernaux, Bialosky is scrupulous and unsentimental in her account; this rigor is, itself, a testament of great love. The End is The Beginning is an unforgettable and profoundly moving book." --Claire Messud, critically acclaimed author of This Strange Eventful History "How do you endure the unendurable? When Jill Bialosky's mother finally succumbed to Alzheimer's at the height of the pandemic, she couldn't even be there to bear witness. This book is an atonement: a brave and eloquent assessment of a life battered by loss and ennobled by resilience." --Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, most recently of Horse.