Barbara Graham

A seven-year-old boy inexplicably recalls the memories of a missing 22-year-old musician in this psychological thriller about the fierce love between mothers and sons across lifetimes, a work of gripping suspense with a supernatural twist that will mesmerize fans of Chloe Benjamin and Lisa Jewell. In September 2002, young musician Henry Bird mysteriously disappears in Aurora Falls. He's last seen walking towards the Timber Creek Motel. In May 2003, Jonah Daniel is born to Lucie and Matt Pressman in New York City. Four years later, the episodes start. The mysterious night terrors. The imaginary friends Jonah insists are real. The dog named Charlie and his "other" mom. But Jonah doesn't have a pet or another mother. When a psychologist suggests that Jonah may be having recollections of a previous life, this shocking news leads Lucie Pressman to Helen Bird, the owner of Queen Hearts Bakery in Aurora Falls and Henry Bird's mother. Aching for her lost son, Helen remains unconditionally devoted to solving his disappearance. Is it possible that little Jonah is Helen;s son come back to her? Or just a cruel and unsettling coincidence? But how could he seem to know things about Henry's life? Left with so many questions and seemingly no answers, the two mothers join forces to make sense of the unimaginable. It is a quest that will force them to redefine what it means not just to be a mother or a human being, but the very nature of life--and death.

A Novel

What Jonah Knew

This haunting yet wry coming-of-age memoir set at an all-girls summer camp fast-forwards decades into the future as Barbara Graham grapples with the knowledge that the "love affair" she believed she'd shared with her female camp counselor in the 1960s fits every definition of sexual abuse. The book will appeal to anyone who has experienced a betrayal of trust or conflated love and abuse.

A memoir of stolen innocence

Camp Paradox

Mary Pipher

Twenty-seven female novelists, essayists, and journalists share their perspectives on the experiences of today's grandmothers.

27 Writers Reveal the Hidden Pleasures and Perils of Being a Grandmother

Eye of My Heart

In Death, Materiality and Mediation, Barbara Graham analyzes a diverse range of objects associated with remembrance in both the public and private arenas through ethnography of communities on both sides of the Irish border. In doing so, she explores the materially mediated interactions between the living and the dead, revealing the physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual roles of the dead in contemporary communities. Through this study, Graham expands the concept of materiality to include narrative, song, senses, emotions, ephemera and embodied experience. She also examines how modern practices are informed by older beliefs and folk religion.

An Ethnography of Remembrance in Ireland

Death, Materiality and Mediation

Sheriff Tony Abernathy investigates after it appears that the mayor's unpopular wife Doreen has been murdered at a local museum run by the sheriff's mother and aunt.

The Murder Quilt

Murder by Artifact

When his hopes for a quiet Fourth of July are shattered by the discovery of a dead body, Tennessee sheriff Tony Abernathy struggles with the challenges of a town in chaos, from a dispute between not-so-sweet little old ladies and an attacking intruder to a blackmail scheme and his quilting wife's gossip-driven investigation. (mystery & detective).

The Charity Quilt

Murder by Sunlight

“A spellbinding literary thriller packed with psychological suspense and profound questions about motherhood, trauma and how death illuminates life.”—Amy Tan, bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club and Where the Past Begins “Barbara Graham is a literary alchemist. What Jonah Knew not only grabs you from the first page, it makes the mystical believable and the human predicament shine with wit, wisdom, and love.”—Tara Brach, meditation teacher and bestselling author of Radical Acceptance and Radical Compassion A seven-year-old boy inexplicably recalls the memories of a missing 22-year-old musician in this psychological thriller about the fierce love between mothers and sons across lifetimes, a work of gripping suspense with a supernatural twist that will mesmerize fans of Chloe Benjamin and Lisa Jewell. Helen Bird will stop at nothing to find Henry, her musician son who has mysteriously disappeared in upstate New York. Though the cops believe Henry’s absence is voluntary, Helen knows better. While she searches for him—joined finally by police—Jonah is born to Lucie and Matt Pressman of Manhattan. Lucie does all she can to be the kind of loving, attentive mother she never had, but can’t stop Jonah’s night terrors or his obsession with the imaginary “other mom and dog” he insists are real. Whether Jonah’s anxiety is caused by nature or nurture—or something else entirely—is the propulsive mystery at the heart of the novel. All hell breaks loose when the Pressmans rent a summer cottage in Aurora Falls, where Helen lives. How does Jonah, at seven, know so much about Henry, Helen’s still-missing son? Is it just a bizarre coincidence? An expression of Jung’s collective unconscious? Or could Jonah be the reincarnation of Henry? Faced with more questions than answers, Helen and Lucie set out to make sense of the insensible, a heart-stopping quest that forces them to redefine not just what it is to be a mother or a human being, but the very nature of life—and death—because of what Jonah knows.

“Finally, a look at grandmothering that is decidedly unsentimental. These clear-eyed essays offer humor and insight as they take on the multigenerational lives many of us now lead.” –Cokie Roberts, author of We Are Our Mothers' Daughters In this groundbreaking collection, twenty-seven smart, gutsy writers explode the clichés and tell the real stories about what it's like to be a grandmother in today's world. Among the contributors: Judith Viorst exposes the high-stakes competition for Most Adored Nana. Anne Roiphe learns to keep her mouth shut and her opinions to herself. Elizabeth Berg marvels at witnessing her child give birth to her child. Judith Guest confesses her failed attempt to be the perfect grandmother. Jill Nelson grapples with unforeseen mother-daughter tensions. Ellen Gilchrist reveals how grandparenthood has eased her fear of death. Beverly Donofrio makes amends for her shortcomings as a teenage mother. Bharati Mukherjee transcends her Hindu upbringing to embrace her adopted Chinese granddaughters. Mary Pipher deconstructs the role of grandmother in our changing world.

Barbara Graham

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