Coming Soon from UGA Press
Debra Monroe has always written about the so-called source of trouble: “that one incident you zero down to and everything bad that happens after it happens because of it.” It Takes a Worried Woman explores the outer edges of her faith that all past hardship could have been prevented and all future hardship might still be.
Debra Monroe assesses problems that might be solved, problems that may never be, and all the ways that trouble is big but new strategies, fresh patience, and sheer endurance are eventually enough.
". . . fierce, introspective honesty about sex, love, marriage, parenting, violence, acquaintance rape, hate crimes, the COVID pandemic, and worry itself, its value and its cost. These essays have qualities that made me a longtime fan of her fiction—scalpel-sharp prose that is poetic without calling undue attention to itself, vividly drawn scenes, and the kind of intelligence that never loses contact with the heart."
— David Jauss, author of Glossolalia: New & Selected Stories
Photo by @Joe M. O'Connell
About
Debra Monroe is the author of seven books: two story collections, The Source of Trouble and A Wild, Cold State; two novels, Newfangled and Shambles; two memoirs, On the Outskirts of Normal and My Unsentimental Education; and one essay collection, It Takes a Worried Woman.
She is also the editor of the anthology Contemporary Creative Nonfiction. Her essays have appeared in many venues, including Longreads, The Southern Review, The New York Times, The American Scholar, Solstice, Guernica, Rumpus, and they have been cited as Notable in Best American Essays many times.