The Deep Limitless Air A Memoir in Pieces -- Mary Allen

<strong>Mary Allen</strong> is the author of <em>The Rooms of Heaven</em>, published by Alfred A. Knopf and Vintage Books. She received a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 2002. Her work has appeared in <em>Poets & Writers</em>, <em>Tiferet</em>, <em>Real Simple</em>, <em>Library Journal</em>, CNN On-line, <em>The Chaos</em>, <em>Shenandoah</em>, <em>Spoon River Poetry Review</em>, and in the anthology <em>If I Don't Make It, I Love You: Survivors in the Aftermath of School Shootings</em>. She has an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and has taught at the University of Iowa. She lives in Iowa City and is a full-time writing coach.</p> </p>ENDORSEMENTS</p> </p>"Mary Allen's effortlessly original voice addresses the reader with startling simplicity and moral clarity, whether she is introducing us to the tender friendship between a young woman and a celebrated octogenarian, or allowing us to see through her eyes the beautiful solemnity of monks at their devotions, or tracing her own strange citizenship in the liminal realm of a disrupted childhood and the years that follow. Simply put, read this book. Allen's beguiling and brilliant writing will leave you exhilarated."</p>-Jo Ann Beard, author of <em>Festival Days</em></p> </p>"A snarl of honeybees in a parcel at the post office evokes a mother's long-ago rage; a medical insurance crisis arises when a sister gives birth; past loves, an old man who was kind; Boston, Iowa City, Hawaii, speculations of the afterlife.<em>T