December 2023

Only one memoir is on my Bets On list this year: CLASS by Stephanie Land. I had the pleasure of interviewing Stephanie twice in 2018 before her New York Times bestseller MAID came out in early 2019. That was before Zoom and video were readily available, so those interviews do not exist. I loved that the book enjoyed instant success, and it was fun to see it made into a hugely popular Netflix series.

I wanted to read CLASS to see what happened next. Here we pick up in Missoula, Montana, where Stephanie is living with her six-year-old daughter, Emilia. She’s in her final year of college, applying for her MFA while juggling a spirited child with a big imagination and an ex-partner who continues to pick at her life. It’s still one step forward and two steps back. Here Stephanie is once again dealing with the idea of motherhood --- not once, but twice --- with very different decisions coming from the experience. She is juggling WIC aid, as well as working as a housecleaner and a landscaper. Her daughter and school sometimes seem to be at odds, and Stephanie wishes she could afford to have kept her in the school environment where Emilia was thriving.

I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by Stephanie, and it felt like I was hearing a conversation from someone who I had not seen in a few years. She holds nothing back. And just like in MAID, I found myself rooting for her. What’s next for Stephanie after she has mined this theme twice? I look forward to seeing it.