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Review

From Carole Maso, one of our most daring experimentalist writers, comes this intimate and seductive book: a working journal of her pregnancy. We have come to rely on Maso to say that which is true as well as unexpected. The Room Lit by Roses delineates, with searing and poetic honesty, the months leading up to the birth of Rose, long-awaited daughter, born to Maso and her partner, Helen.

During the early months, beset by the worry that the child will be lost, Maso's journal becomes a meditation on art and life. Maso becomes more confident as the baby reaches the second trimester. "We are flying, as the finishing touches are applied. The eyelids close over the eyes by the ninth week and temporarily seal them like a kitten's. They will remain closed until the sixth month. You travel in darkness for now, little one. I'm right here."