You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir Audiobook

The bestselling poet and author offers a lush and heartrending memoir exploring coming of age in your middle age.

“Life, like a poem, is a series of choices.”

In this, her memoir, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself in lyrical vignettes that shine hard and clear as jewels. The book begins with one woman’s personal, particular heartbreak, but its circles widen into a reckoning with contemporary womanhood, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in many progressive homes.

With the spirit of self-inquiry and empathy she’s known for, Smith interweaves snapshots of a life with meditations on secrets, anger, forgiveness, and narrative itself. The power of these pieces is cumulative: page after page, they build into a larger interrogation of family, work, and patriarchy.

Like the work of Deborah Levy, Rachel Cusk, and Gina Frangello, this book is an unflinching look at what it means to live and write our own lives. It is a story about a mother’s fierce and constant love for her children and a woman’s love and regard for herself. Above all, this memoir is an argument for possibility.

With a poet’s attention to language and an innovative approach to the genre, Smith reveals how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our power and make something new. Something beautiful.

Download and start listening now!

"Even though this brought up memories of my childhood, I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. Maybe it was because I gained a little perspective on my parents. As the child of divorced parents, I'm not sure you can ever make it beautiful again but I think she showed that to be true."

— NisiPoz (4 out of 5 stars)