“We’re all in the desert, Summer. Some of us just don’t realize it.” Set simultaneously in the mossy forests of Georgia and the howling desert of the grieving heart, this contemporary literary novel follows the intergenerational friendship between two women—Summer, an ambitious medical student, and Magda, the elderly eccentric living next door to her. Professional interest turns to near obsession when Summer seeks to understand through observation and reasoning the cause of Magda’s irregular behavior. Mother of Wild Beasts is the story of two unlikely travel companions through the spiritual desert of shared grief, as both learn to renounce the one thing holding them in that wasteland. A novel of humor, depth, nuance, and ultimately the transformative power of love, Mother of Wild Beasts is a story that awakens its reader to the importance of reclaiming the present moment.