The Mourner’s Bestiary

Writer and musician Caffall debuts with a bestiary for modern times. Styling her book after the morality-based texts popular in the Middle Ages, Caffall offers a natural history of sea creatures. As she credits each living thing with a special existential reason for being, she interweaves reflections on her son’s curiosity, her father’s undying love, and her mother’s stricter ways. Narrating her own work, Caffall considers how polycystic kidney disease (PKD) could curtail her longevity just as ecological threats endanger entire ocean ecosystems. Caffall invites listeners into her memories of the Gulf of Maine and Long Island Sound, where she became enamored with the Atlantic’s coastal waters. She candidly describes how she endured the demise of her parents’ codependent marriage, fell in and out of love—twice—and faced divorce to raise a child alone, knowing that he may inherit PKD. Exploring her favorite childhood spaces with her son prompted Caffall to write about environmental destruction, genetic illness, forgiveness, and healing; this book is a wake-up call for all seeking a path forward in uncertain times.