Ephemera: A Memoir

This graceful meditation recounts the experience of losing a mother—first through absence, then through death—to mental illness. The title is ironic: the “ephemera” of plants and nature that Loewinsohn depicts critically shaped her childhood and now adulthood. The mother was a gardener: sections captioned “Dirt,” “Water,” and “Light,” plus descriptions of nurturing greenery become metaphors for how their mother-child relationship was nurtured. Throughout, the adult Loewinsohn revisits herself as well as the child at different ages who all wait for this gossamer parent who has disappeared again. No other adults show their faces, and a young sibling, who is surely also suffering, offers no solace. The semirealistic characters drawn in line art all have eyes looking openly for something missing amid the muted beauty of nature. Sections featuring the real, adult Loewinsohn appear in warm rust-rose tones while her memories of childhood show in cool, wistful shades of teals and tans.