Losing Helen

Carol Becker is Professor of the Arts and Dean of Faculty at Columbia University School of the Arts in New York City. She has written for many print and online publications on varied topics, including the intellectual lives and emotional well-being of women. Her recently reissued book The Invisible Drama: Women and the Anxiety of Change has been translated into six languages.

“A short and powerful evocation of a mother's death and of the events immediately preceding them. . . . those going through similar trials will take much solace from the author's story.”—Kirkus Reviews“In this quiet, lovely essay, Becker takes readers through the years and months leading up to her mother’s death and the mourning period that followed, delving into the grief of losing a much-loved parent. . . . Becker’s writing is so beautiful—and the process of grieving so universal—that it deserves a wide audience.”—Publishers WeeklyLosing Helen is a compact essay whose themes probe deep. In Becker's reflective prose, she acknowledges that all "art making and writing is just an attempt to give... unfathomability form. I am not sure anyone... succeeds." Becker (The Invisible Drama) does indeed succeed--profoundly. This meditative, grace-filled gem is moving and soul-enriching.—Shelf Awareness (starred review)