How to Make Friends with the Dark

I find the bills by accident, stuffed underneath a pile of underwear in the dresser my mother and I share. Instead of clean socks, my hands come away with a thick stack of envelopes marked Urgent, Last Notice, Contact Immediately.

 

My heart thuds. We don t have a lot, we never have, but we ve made do with what my mom makes as the county Bookmobile lady and from helping out at Bonita s daycare. Come summer, we ve got the Jellymobile, but that s another story.

 

You don t hide things in a drawer unless you re worried.

 

Mom s been on the couch since yesterday morning, cocooned in a black-and-red wool blanket, sleeping off a headache.

 

Mom, I say, loudly. Mommy.

 

No answer. I check the crooked clock on the wall. Forty minutes until zero period.

 

We re what my mom likes to call a well-oiled, good-looking, and good-smelling machine. But I need the other half of my machine to beep and whir at me, and to do all that other stuff moms are supposed to do. If I don t have her, I don t have anything. It s not like with my friend Cake, who has two parents and an uncle living with her. If my mom is sick, or down, I m shit out of luck for help and companionship.

 

And rides to school.

 

Mom! I scream as loud as I can, practically ripping my throat in the process. I shove the bills back beneath the stack of underwear and head to the front room.

 

The scream worked. She s sitting up, the wool blanket crumpled on the floor.

 

Good morning to you, too, she mumbles thickly.

 

Her short hair is matted on one side and spiky on the other. She looks around, like she recognizes nothing, like she s an alien suddenly dropped into our strange, earthly atmosphere.

 

She blinks once, twice, three times, then says,

Kathleen Glasgow's first novel was the New York Times bestselling novel Girl in Pieces . How to Make Friends with the Dark is her second novel. She lives and writes in Tucson, Arizona. To learn more about Kathleen and her writing, visit her website, kathleenglasgowbooks.com, or follow @kathglasgow on Twitter and @misskathleenglasgow on Instagram.

A rare and powerful novel [that] dives deep into the heart of grief and healing with honesty, empathy, and grace. Karen M. McManus, New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying

In this raw, powerful, and heartbreaking meditation on loss and grief, Glasgow writes with unflinching beauty. We meet Tiger Tolliver at her most broken at her darkest moment and yet, somehow, [she] teaches us how to let the light in. Julie Buxbaum, New York Times bestselling author of Tell Me Three Things
 
Breathtaking and heartbreaking, and I loved it with all my heart.   Jennifer Niven, New York Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places
 
A bold, fearlessly crafted story of loss and love. Glasgow s prose commands the page with its trademark beauty and grace, and Tiger Tolliver is a character readers will root for every step of the way. Courtney Summers, New York Times bestselling author of Sadie
 
Glasgow is the rare type of skilled storyteller that knows you have to hurt your characters before putting them back together. I loved every word of this lyrical and devastating novel. Kara Thomas, author of The Cheerleaders
 
Gripping, powerful, and full of truth. Kami Garcia, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Beautiful Creatures
 
A visceral, gut-wrenching, and heartbreaking take on the grieving process. Tiffany Jackson, author of Monday s Not Coming
 
Magnificent. A beautiful, heartbreaking alleluia to survival. Brendan Kiely, New York Times bestselling author of All American Boys
 
A book as fierce, tender, and rare as its aptly named heroine, Tiger. A gorgeously nuanced meditation on grief and family, and the incredible love that can pull you through the darkest of times. Meg Leder, author of Letting Go of Gravity