"Like a great photographer, MARA BERGMAN

celebrates the moment and detail at the core

of memory. Together, her poems show the great

changes families experience - the free and fearless

life of a young woman set alongside a dying mother

hanging on so she can hold a great-grandchild, the

one-sided conversations we have with the dead.

Her dynamism is infectious - you are drawn

into this family's wonder, love, compassion, grief

and happiness. Bergman's poems remind me of

Pablo Neruda's belief in the driving force of love:

'Hold on to that, don't let it get away ...' and one

of the final poems, 'The Happiness', delivers the

book's message: 'Before it leaves, I will bury it deep

enough to save.'

After reading these poems, you'll feel braced and

ready, you'll feel wiser and more generous, you'll

want to hold on to moments that contain your own

astonishment."

JACKIE WILLS