The Good Slope

Moving, bold, and funny, this collection of essays by Elizabeth Rau captures the poignancy of ordinary life through the voices of everyday people--children, friends, neighbors, and even the mail carrier. In vivid and lyrical prose, she chronicles her childhood in the Midwest, her many years as a newspaper reporter, and, above all, her plunge into motherhood in middle age. At a time when some writers tend to grouse about raising children, Rau revels in her good fortune and the day-to-day: te...