watershed lit books

In Our Last Blue Moon, dancer Kris O’Shee, widow of Alan Cheuse, the novelist, beloved teacher, and literary commentator known as the ＂voice of books＂ on NPR’s All Things Considered for over thirty years, tells the story of the loss of her husband after he sustained injuries in a car crash in the summer of 2015. O’Shee chronicles the days in the Northern California hospital, the bedside vigil after Cheuse lapsed into a coma, and ultimately, his death.

In her publishing debut, O’Shee writes in engaging and honest prose, in a memoir that is deeply personal and self-aware, without any self-pity or cliché. This is a story vivid in language, awash in love, and honest in reflecting on twenty-five happily shared years with the love of O’Shee’s life. Reeling from Cheuse’s death, O’Shee was thrust into widowhood. Rattled by grief, she eventually wrote her way to a new stage of life.

＂...written with grace, charm, wit, and mischief.＂ - Molly Giles

＂This is a story of ultimate grace, told with ... elegant precision.＂ - Ana Menendez

＂Her grief and joy will stay with me for a long time.＂ - Matt Klam