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About
When Julia Ridley Smith's parents died, they left behind a virtual museum of furniture, books, art, and artifacts. Between the contents of their home, the stock from their North Carolina antiques shop, and the ephemera of two lives lived, Smith faced a mo
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Reviews
"Smith is a sensitive and nuanced storyteller, so that the very intimate curiosities of her family's life become a bridge for understanding grief more generally. . . . Her careful treatment of things inherited-both tangible and internal-is a sympathetic ode to the vibrant stories that live on, even when the people who lived in them have gone."
Michelle Anne Schingler
"Julia Ridley Smith's Sum of Trifles is a beautifully crafted, elegiac journey. These essays-memories and mysteries of the author's eccentric parents and their eclectic collections, as well as moving meditations on writing, marriage, and motherhood-are rich and compelling. A wonderful exploration of grief and the joy left behind."
Jill McCorkle
"'In gilding the rifts, you ascribe beauty to the brokenness, inviting anyone to see how, treated tenderly, it can shine.' Julia Ridley Smith is referring here to an object in need of mending, but the sentence describes everything that is true and raw and generous and emotionally satisfying about this book. Smith's knowledge that loss can only be understood through form makes this the best b
Michael Parker