Kathryn Schulz’s new mem­oir Lost & Found, describes her par­al­lel jour­neys of griev­ing the death of her father and build­ing a future with the love of her life, and is like dis­cov­er­ing a trea­sure trove. With exquis­ite writ­ing, emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ty, and ele­gant wit, Schulz shares her sto­ry and cel­e­brates the depths of her rela­tion­ships. Through­out the book, Schulz remains cen­tered on the par­tic­u­lar­i­ty of her expe­ri­ences, focus­ing on the pos­si­bil­i­ties — phys­i­cal, emo­tion­al, and spir­i­tu­al — that they have cre­at­ed in her life. Where­as the author’s rela­tion­ships and expe­ri­ences can only be her own, the book’s cen­tral mes­sage is uni­ver­sal: Hold­ing things that are seem­ing­ly con­tra­dic­to­ry is hard. There is no mag­ic bul­let for cop­ing with grief, and love still takes work and com­mit­ment despite it.

Kathryn Schulz is a staff writer at The New York­er and the author of Being Wrong. She won a Nation­al Mag­a­zine Award and a Pulitzer Prize for The Real­ly Big One, her arti­cle about seis­mic risk in the Pacif­ic North­west. Lost & Found grew out of Los­ing Streak, a New York­er sto­ry that was anthol­o­gized in The Best Amer­i­can Essays. Her work has also appeared in The Best Amer­i­can Sci­ence and Nature Writ­ing, The Best Amer­i­can Trav­el Writ­ing, and The Best Amer­i­can Food Writ­ing. A native of Ohio, she lives with her fam­i­ly on the East­ern Shore of Maryland.