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“At once fierce and exquisitely tender, The Heart Folds Early is a breathtaking journey into the mind of a mother grappling with an impossible choice. Jill Christman has written a profoundly generous book, offering her story with open palms and, in doing so, affirming the right of every woman to be the authority on her own body and life.” —Nicole Graev Lipson, author of Mothers and Other Fictional Characters

“This book is a continuous wonder, a compulsively readable story told with keen wisdom and nerves of steel about the fierce desire to grow and birth babies from a full life of one’s own. Christman plows right through the pastel curtain around labor and delivery, revealing exactly why the mother and creator of life must wield the power to control this dangerous, bloody, and powerful act and to choose a future for herself and her children.” —Sonya Huber, author of Voice First: A Writer’s Manifesto

“The Heart Folds Early is a brilliant, breathtaking memoir about the dignity and necessity of our choices, and how everybody bears griefs unforeseen that, at times, hardly seem survivable. Jill Christman writes about the toughest matters of human existence with a directness, empathy, and humor that is the closest thing I’ll ever know to love born from a page. I’m so grateful for this book, for this narrator’s wisdom, for her heart.” —Brooke Champagne, author of Nola Face: A Latina’s Life in the Big Easy

“It is often painful, but Christman is relatable, tough, and funny—the kind of company you want when the shit hits the fan … [Christman] is devastated by her son’s death, grieving and terrified, but, ‘there was nothing I was unwilling to face for my family,’ she writes. ‘I knew my own capacity.’ I was ready to follow her anywhere.” —Jessica Mesman at The Christian Century

“From the first chapters, Christman reveals her mastery of writing about grief in somatic ways that reject clichés … [The Heart Folds Early] is a nexus point between the personal and the political.” —Molly Lindberg at Synapsis

“Many have praised Christman’s new book for her ability to find humor amid agony—which is her gift—but I was moved by her message of healing from pain in order ‘to love more deeply’ which is her superpower.” —Steve Harvey, The Humble Essayist

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