The Shape of What Remains

Like all trauma, healing happens on its own timetable, often in surprising ways. Paralyzed by grief ten years after witnessing the violent death of her six-year-old daughter, Teresa Calvano turns to Chaucer, Janis Joplin, and a monthly book group to cope.

What did six-year-old Serena Calvano see that caused her to run in the road on a clear November morning while waiting for the school bus with her mother? Teresa Calvano has spent a decade blaming herself for Serena's violent death and wishing it was her husband, Luke who was with Serena that day so the guilt didn't fall so heavily on her shoulders. When her husband and friends lose patience with her failure to get back to life, Teresa turns to books, therapy, and Janis Joplin to address her continued unraveling. Is there a cure for grief? In Teresa's world, her research and life as a successful English professor fail to offer the one thing she most wants: another day with her six-year-old daughter.

Lisa C. Taylor is is a poet and fiction writer. The Shape of What Remains is her first novel, based upon a short story published in her 2015 collection of short fiction, Growing a New Tail (Arlen House/Syracuse University Press). She has three published collections of poetry, two short story collections, and two poetry chapbooks. Lisa holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is the director of the Mesa Verde Writers Conference and Literary Festival every July. She also holds an MA in counseling and had a previous career working with adolescents and adults. Lisa teaches online and at writers conferences around the country.