I Am Clarence

A haunting novel exploring a mother’s fierce love for her disabled son as she grapples with her own mental health, by the author of the feminist cult classic The Princess of 72nd Street—with an introduction by Sarah Manguso

“Elaine Kraf is one of literature’s hidden gems. Her work demands a place on your bookshelf right next to Plath and Ditlevsen.”—Sarah Rose Etter, author of Ripe

According to Dr. Hovenclock, health meant wanting things. What would I have to pretend to want before he would let me leave? I longed to return to Clarence.

For Clarence’s mother, life revolves around her young son; she takes him to see specialists to find the cause of his blindness and developmental delays, protects him from the cruelty of other children, and loves him tenderly. But she has her own struggles too. Her sanity is precarious and fractured, making caregiving increasingly difficult for her.

When her mental health reaches a breaking point, she checks herself into an institution so that she can get better and, she tells herself, be a better mother to Clarence. As she is forced to decide between his well-being and her own, the reader is faced with these essential questions: Can a mother’s love for her child surmount her own emotional upheaval? How much can she sacrifice for her son and survive?

Through this unforgettable journey into one woman’s mind and relationships, Kraf paints a harrowing portrait of motherhood, which remains timely and inventive more than fifty years after its initial publication.