Black Lake

A frank new book about the devastation of recurring pregnancy loss, by the author of the award-winning Brute

The black lake at the center of Emily Skaja's brilliant and startling second collection is a watery abyss of grief without bottom, threatening to drag her down into its depths. Her only escape, she believes, is to conceive and carry a child, but multiple miscarriages bring her to the brink of drowning. At the same time, the political and cultural turn of post-Roe America imperils basic human rights as essential health care for women now hangs in doubt.