“Mary Leopold has written a memoir of extraordinary honesty and compassion. With the insight of a seasoned therapist, the grounding of rigorous research, and the raw vulnerability of a mother navigating unimaginable loss, she illuminates what it means to explore the unfamiliar landscape of deep grief and reinvention after loss. She brings readers into the profound contrast between her son’s unexpected, traumatic death and the tender, sacred experience of caring for her dying mother. Her courageous exploration of living with unanswered questions speaks to one of grief ’s deepest challenges: finding the strength to carry what we may never fully understand. Compassionate, deeply human, and ultimately hopeful, The Landscape of After is a memoir that will comfort readers long after the final page.”

—BROOKE SHIELDS, actor, mother, author, reader

“Leopold gives us both the compass and the uncharted wilderness of grief over her son and her mother—even as a grief expert, I learned about new research from the wide scope of her knowledge. Leopold’s storytelling let me into her unfiltered grief and showed markers in the landscape of grieving that others will recognize as they find their own way.”

—MARY-FRANCES O’CONNOR, PhD, author of The Grieving Brain and The Grieving Body

“This is a timely memoir for anyone who has been told grief has stages, or a timeline, or an endpoint. Mary Leopold has given us an authentic account of her own dual losses, her son’s sudden death and her mother’s anticipated one, backed by the research and clinical literature she has spent a career studying and by a real feel for the aesthetics of dying. At the same time, she is just as willing to embrace signs, dreams, and ritual as she is with research, trusting that some parts of grief only make sense outside the clinical frame. The reader learns that continuing bonds, embodiment, and reverence are vital in creating meaning after loss.”

—BJ MILLER, MD, coauthor, A Beginner’s Guide to the End; cofounder, Mettle Health

“Mary Leopold writes a powerfully moving account of grief not only the loss of her parents, but, most devastatingly, the unexpected death of her nineteen-year-old son. And since she is also a practicing and skillful therapist, acutely aware that various people experience grief in different ways, her book is sure to offer understanding, practical help, and solace to many grateful readers.”

—ELAINE PAGELS, Harrington Professor of History of Religion, Princeton University, author of The Gnostic Gospels, Why Religion, and other books

“Leopold beautifully weaves her clinical wisdom as a therapist into this powerful personal narrative of grief. She shares her innermost thoughts as she navigates her new landscape of grief, and in so doing she provides invaluable insights and inspiration for all of us who are grieving. A beautiful book of heartbreak and resilience.”

—COLIN CAMPBELL, Finding the Words: Working Through Profound Loss with Hope and Purpose

“The loss of a child can be one of life’s most isolating experiences. Like the Wind Phone, The Landscape of After creates a space where connection, understanding, and hope can grow. By encouraging honest conversations about grief, Mary offers a comforting reminder that while every grief journey is unique, no one has to carry it alone.”

—AMY DAWSON, certified grief coach, creator of My Wind Phone

“Mary Leopold has given us a gorgeous, generous, unblinking look at life when, as she writes, ‘death arrives, and nothing is still.’ Through the lens of a licensed psychotherapist and loving, brokenhearted mother, The Landscape of After gives readers language, nuance, and understanding around grief—both its permanence and its purpose.”

—HEIDI STEVENS, nationally syndicated columnist