You Could Make This Place Beautiful

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You Could Make This Place Beautiful

By: Maggie Smith

Narrated by: Maggie Smith

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‘Life, like a poem, is a series of choices’

In her long-awaited debut memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, award-winning poet Maggie Smith explores in lyrical vignettes the end of her marriage and the beginning of a surprising new life. With the spirit of reflection and empathy she’s known for, Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness and narrative itself.

It is a story about a mother’s fierce and constant love for her children, and a woman’s love and regard for herself. Above all, this memoir is an argument for possibility. Smith reveals how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our power and make something new. Something beautiful.

Maggie SmithMaggie SmithCanongate Books

Personal Development

Personal Success

Women

Memoir

Personal Development Personal Success Women Memoir

Critic reviews

"This book is extraordinary" (ANN PATCHETT)

"I am in awe of Maggie Smith’s memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, for what she is willing to show us. Yes, the writing is keen and gorgeous, and yes, she tells us a hundred truths in every chapter, but most of all she allows us to witness a self crumbling, scattering and renewing . . . [A] generous, beautiful book" (KATHERINE MAY)

"Outstanding . . . As a chronicle of a divorce and a meditation on parenthood, it's unflinching, insightful and exquisitely written"

"This is a memoir of a woman who recommits to herself after heartbreak, but it's also a meditation on patriarchal power dynamics, a mother's love for her children and what that means in today's world and how to bet on yourself, even and especially when we're told not to. A balm for the soul and a rallying cry for the heart"

"A composite of creativity, motherhood and determination"

"Rich in nuance and unrelenting in its honesty, Smith’s memoir is a bittersweet study in both grief and joy"

"[A] meditation on what it means to be a modern woman, this is as beautiful and lyrical as they come"

"Reminds you that you can [ . . . ] survive deep loss, sink into life’s deep beauty, and constantly, constantly make yourself new" (GLENNON DOYLE)

"A poet’s memoir . . . [Smith] has an uncanny ability to boil down giant ideas into tiny, dense sentences that are both playful and heartbreaking"

"Smith turns to prose to chronicle the end of her marriage and the hard, beautiful work of loving and valuing herself"

Most relevant

I really loved the first half of this book and then I felt it floundered towards the end. The performance is great and there were moments that really spoke to me. To be honest I think this book isn’t supposed to be loved and liked by everyone all the way through. Listen. Take what resonates with you, and leave the rest. We’re all different and that’s what makes us beautiful…. AND there are some deep commonalities that many of us experience.