"Mary Mandeville’s gorgeous, raw truth-telling will crack your heart and stitch it up again. WHAT LASTS is a beautiful collection of essays that build on each other, that climb higher—much like her son Brandon climbed trees—to kiss the sky, to remind us what makes us human, to remind us devastating loss squashes us and can also open us to beauty. In these nine essays we learn Mandeville’s son died by suicide. We learn how she navigated grief, how she came to fully embrace she’s still alive and living out loud to honor her son, to honor herself. For anyone who’s had a loss (and isn’t that everyone?) WHAT LASTS is essential heart reading."

— Anne Gudger, author of THE FIFTH CHAMBER


"Between love and loss over the span of a life there are small moments of epic emotion. Mary Mandeville scoops up these tiny pieces of life force, love force, and arranges them like a profound poem you might find washed up on the sand, or reaching into the sky like mighty tree branches. This book is a love song and a heart prayer. I will carry the pieces in my body forever, with deep gratitude."

— Lidia Yuknavitch, author of THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER


"In WHAT LASTS, A Narrative Reliquary, Mary Mandeville offers readers a delicate, exquisitely rendered glimpse of her heart, where memory, tenderness, and motherhood swirl in gorgeous, aching combinations. Mandeville writes with a poet's precision, navigating the intimate terrain of loving, healing, losing, letting go, and witnessing. Line after line, Mandeville exhibits her singular blend of wisdom, warmth, and humanity. WHAT LASTS touched the deepest parts of me—both healed and unhealed—and I'm grateful Mandeville offers her light to all of us through these beautiful pages."

— Christie Tate, author of NYT bestseller GROUP: HOW ONE THERAPIST AND A CIRCLE OF STRANGERS SAVED MY LIFE