Navigating the Chaotic Reality of Urban Parenting

In Honor Jones' new novel Sleep, the protagonist Margaret grows up in a verdant suburban world with her family and a best friend who follows her through life. But when something disorienting happens to her, Margaret isn't protected – and so she grows up learning to protect herself instead. As a mother, she becomes concerned with how to raise her children to be safe but unafraid. In today's episode, Jones joins NPR's Mary Louise Kelly for a conversation about the novel. Their discussion touches on what stays with us from childhood, parenting as a lowering of expectations, and how Jones achieves her distinctly spare prose.

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