Night Lake: A Young Priest Maps the Topography of Grief

A young priest and mother describes how she recovered her faith, reclaimed her life and found the courage to help others in the aftermath of the twin tragedies of an alcoholic parent’s suicide and a newborn’s sudden death.
"In less than a year and a half, Liz's mother killed herself and her infant son died unexpectedly. In between these two deaths, Liz was ordained as an Episcopal priest. The Night Lake is the story of finding a way forward through the kind of tragedy thatseems like it might be beyond surviving, and trying to do so while holding down a job that's all about leading a community in hope. It's the story of parenting a toddler who is delighted with the world and doesn't yet understand death, of standing in vulnerability before a congregation, and of learning to carve out space for the slow labor of learning to live again in grief. Liz finds surprising solace and strength in running and then racing, in the fear and awe of having another child, in choosing to quit drinking, and in stepping more fully into her work as a priest, heartbreak and all. Weaving through the shores of Lake Tahoe and the streets of Berkeley, California, The Night Lake offers a raw and honest look at the details of a crisis and its aftermath that aren't often shared but that make us human, and the hard-won joy that can follow"--
Called "such a sad, tough story, but finally so life-affirming, filled with spirit and love" by Anne Lamott, this is a raw and intensely affecting memoir by a young priest about loss of a child, its grief and its aftermath, and the hard-won joy that can follow.Liz Tichenor has taken her newborn son, five weeks old, to the doctor, from a cabin on the shores of Lake Tahoe. She is sent home to her husband and two-year-old daughter with the baby, who is pronounced "fine" by an urgent care physician. Six hours later, the baby dies in their bed. Less than a year and a half before, Tichenor's mother jumped from a building and killed herself after a long struggle with alcoholism. As a very young Episcopal priest, Tichenor has to "preach the Good News," to find faith where there is no hope, but she realizes these terrible parts of her own life will join her in the pulpit. The Night Lake is the story of finding a way forward through tragedies that seem like they might be beyond surviving and of learning to carve out space for the slow labor of learning to live again, in grief.