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WITHOUT YOUR FATHER

$18.95

In a series of 112 vignettes, Without Your Father chronicles the year following the sudden death of Jessica Lynne Henkle’s father. Written in the second person and with searing honesty, the book depicts the oddities and absurdities of navigating sudden loss, along with the utter devastation of it: the daily, sometimes hourly trudging forward in a life that has become unrecognizable now that one person is no longer in it. Without Your Father seeks to mimic the grieving process itself and allows readers to enter its pages and move through their own losses, in their own ways. It is, at its core, an offering—from one grieving soul to another.

In a series of 112 vignettes, Without Your Father chronicles the year following the sudden death of Jessica Lynne Henkle’s father. Written in the second person and with searing honesty, the book depicts the oddities and absurdities of navigating sudden loss, along with the utter devastation of it: the daily, sometimes hourly trudging forward in a life that has become unrecognizable now that one person is no longer in it. Without Your Father seeks to mimic the grieving process itself and allows readers to enter its pages and move through their own losses, in their own ways. It is, at its core, an offering—from one grieving soul to another.

Praise for WITHOUT YOUR FATHER

In Without Your Father, Jessica Lynne Henkle leans fearlessly into the puzzling incongruences between the self before a great loss and the self after. Her work reads as much like poetry or flash fiction as a memoir, as image by image, she spins straw into pure gold. Each vignette both dissolves and reconciles the before and after, then and now, as Henkle gently invites the reader to journey through grief’s baffling and sometimes astonishing revelations. Without Your Father begins in a singular sorrow, but through surprising turns, suggests a shared space we all could inhabit, a space that allows ample room for healing. 

—Gina Ochsner, Oregon Book Award winner and author of The Hidden Letters of Velta B.


Without Your Father is a beautifully rendered elegiac memoir, an exploration of grief and grace told in precise, scenic vignettes, layered with unimaginable loss. Henkle explores the complexities of parental love and loss, how sometimes when the world gives us our greatest sorrow, it opens us up briefly to a perfect slant of light—grace. Jessica Lynne Henkle has made the personal universal; it’s impossible not to read this gracious book without reliving your own losses, and then, perhaps, letting the light in to embrace the humanity we all share.

— Jaimee Wriston Colbert, author of How Not to Drown

This poignant memoir, presented through 112 short vignettes, offers a raw and disjointed portrayal of grief experienced in the year following the author’s father’s sudden death. Written in the second person, the book delves into the peculiar blend of absurdity, humor, and profound emptiness that accompanies the loss of a parent. It seamlessly transitions between everyday moments and deeper reflections, mirroring the unpredictable nature of grief.

— Natalie Riley, A Book and a Dog

 

About JESSICA LYNNE HENKLE

Jessica Lynne Henkle has a BA in English and art history from Boston University and an MFA in writing from Pacific University. Her essays, stories, and poems have been published in many independent journals. She lives, works, and writes in Oregon, in a home filled with far too many houseplants and hundreds of books. You can visit her online at jessicalynnehenkle.com.

 

  • Genre: Flash Memoir

    ISBN: 978-1-963115-70-3

    Publication Date: MAY 5, 2026