Mother, Nature

“Tender, funny, and courageous, exquisitely written and completely compelling . . . As Jedidiah Jenkins traces a 5,000-mile route with his wildly entertaining mother, Barb, he begins to untangle the live wires of a parent-child bond and to wrestle with a love that hurts. Their relationship is as complicated as it gets, yet as beautiful as I’ve ever had the privilege to witness in words. I don’t know a single person who wouldn’t benefit from reading Mother, Nature.”—Suleika Jaouad, bestselling author of Between Two Kingdoms

“A gorgeously written story of a mother and son’s journey—across the country, back into the past, over craggy emotional and ideological territory—as they try to find a way forward together . . . Again and again, Jenkins’s conclusions surprised me and made me consider my own ‘deal breakers.’ Ultimately Mother, Nature is a book about love, acceptance, and the freedom that comes from knowing, at long last, the truth. As a mother and as a daughter, I’ll be thinking about the conversations at the heart of this book for a good, long time.”—Maggie Smith, bestselling author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful

“A beautifully crafted road trip through the sad, sweet, aching truths of a mother, a son, her faith, and his reason; a peacemaking of love unresolved and overwhelming.”—Rabbi Steve Leder, bestselling author of For You When I Am Gone    

“Mother, Nature may chronicle a familiarly fraught parent-child odyssey, but reading it feels like a soul-soothing stroll. Jenkins’s vulnerable, clear-eyed storytelling is a gift.”—Amanda Montell, author of Cultish

“First of all, fuck Jedidiah Jenkins. As a soon-to-be mother of a son, I am completely gutted by this brilliant book. It’s one of the most vivid and generous accounts of a mother I have ever read, and a master class in confronting unspoken truths—the ones lodged in our throats for years, risking the sting for something sweeter: freedom. At its core, Mother, Nature is an act of devotion and defiance, proving that an imperfect love, ‘a love that limps,’ offers us both.”—Nada Alic, author of Bad Thoughts

“Jenkins, a liberal gay man, and his mother, a conservative Christian woman, are able to find what many people struggle to achieve: a way to peacefully coexist. . . . Their path is not always easy, and some of their conversations are painfully raw, but through it all, their love and respect for each other shine brightly.”—Library Journal, starred review

“Jenkins’s vivid, admiring depiction of Barbara—a woman who loves God, her son, and true crime podcasts with near-equal passion—is wonderfully multidimensional, and his acceptance of their differences lends the memoir an air of maturity. The result is a moving ode to a complicated mother-son bond.”—Publishers Weekly

“Engaging reading for divided times.”—Kirkus Reviews