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It took me a solid two weeks to get through Andrew Solomon’s massive, fascinating study of parenting under unusual circumstances, Far From the Tree. But that’s only a fraction of the 10 years that Solomon spent researching and writing the book, which follows dozens of families and ended up exploring his personal journey to fatherhood as well. (Read more about the book here.)
Given that time frame, I didn’t expect to hear anything about his next book for quite some time, but an article in the New Statesman has the scoop on what Solomon is thinking about these days.
“People said to me, I know you had a depression, but you’re mostly a fairly cheerful person: why do you keep writing on these grim topics? And I said, OK, why don’t I try to write about love?” Romantic love seemed to be well covered by the poets, so he opted for the maternal kind, partly out of an awareness “that we’re bringing up a child without a mother, effectively”, and the process might help him grapple with that absence.
I only hope this one is also 900 pages long.
Did you read Far From the Tree? Are you looking forward to seeing what Solomon does on the topic of motherhood?
