If You Lie Down in a Field, She Will Find You There

by Colleen Brown

While in the middle of a divorce and in the process of reinventing herself, Doris Brown died suddenly in 1974. Two years later, a serial killer confessed to her murder. What propels this book is a desire to recover Doris' life, which has been obscured by the spectacle of her death. If you lie down in a field, she will find you there, captures the cadence of family stories collected through interviews the author conducted with her siblings. Essays and memories by Doris Brown's youngest children, Colleen and Laura, appear alongside spoken word anecdotes that contain the family's oral history and tell us who she was.

110 pages, Paperback

Published October 3, 2023

About the author

Colleen Brown is a 20 year old from United States, Ohio. She is a poetry reader for the Winter Tangerine Review, a member of the Rejects Corner, and a member of the Larmoyante.

Reviews

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

The description of this book drew me in. I can't begin to fathom what it would be like to lose a mother and to find out years later she was murdered. Murdered by a serial killer no less, and he confessed!?

By collecting stories and interviewing her siblings, Colleen Brown shares the story of her mother, Doris Brown.

Although this is a memoir, the writing style felt very poetic to me. It's choppy and moves quickly and yet somehow it all seems to flow.

My thanks to Radiant Press and River Street Writing for this gifted copy.

[Madi (whatsmadireading) · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Surviving can happen against your will.
This is a terrible thing to know.”

overview-

Colleen Brown writes a chilling series of interviews and anecdotes about her family and their mother's murder.

review-

3 ⭐️

This book was like peeking into a family photo album, but more intimate and grim. Quite literally, because some of the essays were accompanied by black and white photos.

Brown’s writing was beautifully poetic, creating a vivid montage of memories about her mother and the varying dynamics of her and her siblings.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodreads strikes again with their incorrect information. Here's the blub for the CORRECT author:

Colleen Brown is known primarily as a sculptor. If you lie down in a field, she will find you there is her first book. Colleen created visual artworks related to the book when she was the Artist in Residence at the Ranger Station Gallery. She holds a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver and an MFA from Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. She has participated in recent exhibitions and events at Western Gallery, Bellingham; Shelfed, Vancouver; Hedreen Gallery, Seattle; Airbnb, Seattle; and The Apartment, Vancouver. Brown is the recipient of a 2016 Portfolio Prize. She lives in Vancouver, BC.

[Anna Dowdall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Colleen Brown’s quietly gripping memoir of her mother, murdered in 1974, is a personal quest to counter the public victim narrative and, ultimately, to reconstruct and console. "If you lie down in a field, she will find you there" layers fragments: memories, sibling narratives, bits of the impersonal, history, sociology. Scraps: the author was only eight when her mother died. You feel the loss progressively too. It might be your mother. This is a heartbreaking book. And then, paradoxically, as the story concludes in the enigmatic image of Doris Brown, unaware that she’s observed, leaning into approaching rain—“your mother loved the rain”—the recognition comes that there’s a convincing completeness here after all. The title comes true: if you lie down in a field, the mother finds you.

[Heather Babcock · Rating 5 out of 5]

“My mother’s life and death must be held separate for her life to exist as a story,” author Colleen Brown writes in her memoir, which brings a fresh and unique narrative form to the genre. This is an engaging, stunning portrait of memories, told in straightforward, conversational prose that flows like poetry.

“If you lie down in a field, she will find you there” was so compelling that I read it in one night. Unforgettable and moving, this is one of the best books I have read this year.

Thank you to Radiant Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Lauren | Wordsbetweenlines · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very lyrically written memoir with snippets of memories from several family members as they recall times with their mother.

Although it was beautifully written I struggled to follow the storyline and timeline and was left expecting more by the end.