From the acclaimed author of Thin Places , a luminous day book about an unexpected year and finding home. Two days after the winter solstice in 2019, Kerri and her partner moved to a remote cottage in the heart of Ireland. They were looking for a home, somewhere to settle into a stable life. Then the pandemic arrived and their secluded abode became a place of enforced isolation. What was meant to be the beginning of an enriching new chapter was instead marked by uncertainty and fear. The seasons still passed, the swallows returned, the rhythms of the natural world went on, but in many ways 2020 was unlike any year we had seen before. And for Kerri there would be one more change: a baby, longed for but utterly, beautifully unexpected. Intensely lyrical, fragmentary in subject and form, Cacophony of Bone is an ode to a year, a place, and a love that transformed a life. When the pandemic came, time seemed to shapeshift; in Kerri’s elegant prose, we can trace its quickening, its slowing. She maps the circle of a year—a journey from one place to another, field notes of a life—from one winter to the next, telling of a changed life in a changed world, as well as all that stays the same. All that keeps on living and breathing, nesting and dying. This is a book for the reader who wants to slow down, guided by a voice that is utterly singular, “rich and strange,” (Robert Macfarlane). A book about home—the deepening of family, the connections that sustain us. Praise for Cacophony of Bone   “The author’s day-book follow-up to her acclaimed debut, Thin Places . [. . .] ní Dochartaigh’s observations are lyrical and relatable. [. . .] A raw, honest, and poetic memoir.— Kirkus Reviews “In poems and essays, Ni Dochartaigh writes in exquisite detail of the seasons, beginning with the “ghost-trace, moon-white” and silent winter that kicks off a new phase of life.” —Lorraine Berry, Los Angeles Times “Kerri ní Dochartaigh (Thin Place s, 2022) takes readers on a yearlong journey through the unpredictable and unprecedented year of 2020. [. . .] Ní Dochartaigh’s reflections during this time are powerful and poignant, examining themes of motherhood, death, and time. As she grapples with depression, sobriety, and fertility, ní Dochartaigh parallels the social turbulence and pandemic chaos with the majesty of nature. Unyielding storms, precious birds, and beautifulplants offer a sense of peace to a broken world. Readers are reminded to “remember the light,” with notes of gratitude and optimism weaved throughout, along with many nods to the healing power of literature. Personal, relatable, and restorative, Cacophony of Bone voices a crucial plea to have faith in humanity.” —Grace Rosen, Booklist “Ni Dochartaigh’s chapters are lyrical and deliberately slow, the time allowed its dignified procession without literary tricks. ‘I can’t go back to who I was before that year,’ the author writes, and readers who follow her also will be changed.” —Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times “This book made me want to write again—Kerri ní Dochartaigh’s emotive, evocative diary entries from a hard pandemic year sing with hope and light and deep wisdom. With a close eye on the natural world, a vivid imagination, and candor, she charts the circle of the year from winter to winter. I was held rapt by her descriptions of her garden from seed planting to seed gathering and by her journey into pregnancy and motherhood. Lyrical, luminous; an inspiring and heartwarming read.”— Hannah DeCamp, Avid Bookshop, Athens, GA “Raw, visionary, lucid, and mystical, Cacophony of Bone speaks of the connection between all things, and the magic that can be found in everyday life.” —Katherine May, bestselling author of Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age “Kerri ní Dochartaigh’s  Cacophony of Bone  is an arrestingly poetic, genre-bending meditation on time and place. If the pandemic made one thing clear, it’s that time is shimmering and slippery, a shapeshifter. It moves the way Kerri ní Dochartaigh’s brilliant mind moves, like a fast, deep river. I am as thrilled by the artistry of her sentences as I am by the wisdom they carry in their current.  Cacophony of Bone  will live on my bookshelf beside  Thin Places,  one of my favorite books of the past several years. I know I’ll reach for them both again and again.” —Maggie Smith,  New York Times  bestselling author of  You Could Make This Place Beautiful “A hypnotic book, at once bare and dense with the stuff of life: bolted lettuce, a cup of tea gifted at the end of a rainy day, always the bright, still world returning. At its heart there sits a human creature, a woman writer wrestling her awareness to attention again and again. A sacred book, for turning outward and inward at the same time.” —Elizabeth Rush, author of Rising , a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize “In a time of isolation, Kerri ní Dochartaigh made a place of belonging. In a season of sickness, she became a vessel for unlooked-for life