Two Women Walk into a Bar

This new Cheryl Strayed mini-memoir is a 31-page snapshot of her complex relationship with her mother-in-law, a woman she very much wanted to be close to—but their relationship was never quite what she had hoped for or dreamed of. At a key moment in their history together, Strayed reflects back on the ill-fated moment they first met in a bar, before they were officially connected by marriage. Twenty years later, in the present day, her mother-in-law is entering hospice care and working out her "unfinished business." I've never read Wild, would you believe it? But I loved Tiny Beautiful Things and, given the opportunity, was happy to re-enter Strayed's world on the page for this short story-length reflection.