{"product_id":"firstborn-a-memoir-9780593831816","title":"Firstborn: A Memoir","description":"\u003cb\u003eA lapidary memoir of losing a child before she can be born, which the author began writing the day she came home from the hospital--an intimate story about our most searing losses and brightest hopes\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Some days I still think this is all just a sad story I'll tell Simone one day.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLauren Christensen is a thirtysomething editor in New York City when she meets her future husband, Gabe, a writer with whom she falls in love right away. Her beloved grandfather is dying, but the young couple is bringing new life into the family: Lauren and Gabe joyfully discover she is pregnant with their daughter, Simone. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs Lauren faces the prospect of becoming a parent, she learns to let go of the fear of abandonment and need for control instilled in her by growing up with a largely absent father and a high-powered mother who was often away on business. Lauren and Gabe are incandescently happy in their exuberant, messy, beautiful shared world. But just weeks after their wedding, they learn that their worst nightmare has come true: Simone is dying in the womb. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn fierce, tender, spellbinding prose, \u003ci\u003eFirstborn\u003c\/i\u003e brings us to the very heart of the human paradox: How do we live when everyone who makes up our world will someday be gone? And how can we mourn when the cosmic order has been turned upside down--when a child dies before she is born? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs she comes up against the brutal limits of maternal healthcare and the limitlessness of her love for her daughter, Lauren Christensen finds a key, generous and brave, in which to share her loss, a testimony whose diamond-like brilliance refracts a universal light.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Lauren Christensen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Penguin Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/18\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 208\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.66lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.84w x 0.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780593831816","brand":"Penguin Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43446791504009,"sku":"9780593831816","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_8856ec0e-2b54-4cb9-970d-3e5361c9006a.jpg?v=1741681127","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/firstborn-a-memoir-9780593831816","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}