What the Deep Water Knows

by Miranda Cowley Heller

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Paper Palace, a Reese’s Book Club Pick, comes a debut poetry collection that paints a moving portrait of a rich life from childhood to love to marriage to motherhood to divorce and beyond.

What the Deep Water Knows by Miranda Cowley Heller is a series of exquisite reflections on love in all its seasons. In poetry that is lyrical and quick-witted, gentle and devastatingly frank, Cowley Heller contemplates time, marriage, and motherhood. Her words will envelop you and bring you to the water’s emotional edge:

“I stand in bare feet at the break,
icy water soaking my cuffs.
A scoop of pelicans dives on bait fish
– relentless, cruel.
Kelp fronds mourn them in the glassy deep.
A hermit crab creeping on to shore
skittles its way across the sand.
In the blue, a soot tern wings loop-the-loops.
And I lift my face into the wind.”

from “Things the Tide Has Discarded”

Genres: Poetry, Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published May 29, 2025

About the author

Miranda Cowley Heller has worked as senior vice president and head of drama series at HBO, developing and overseeing such shows as The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Deadwood, and Big Love, among others. This is her first novel. She grew up spending summers on Cape Cod, and now lives in California.

source: Amazon

Reviews

[Meagan (Meagansbookclub) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feels impossible to rate someone’s personal memoir, but there is something even more vulnerable when it’s in poetry form. Beautiful moments of reflection.

[AMenagerieofWords Deb Coco]

Because I remember, I remember everything...
A thousand moments...It passes through your fingers. And you ask:
How can so much have happened?
What the Deep Water Knows
Miranda Cowley Heller
•
Back in the spring of 2021 I discovered the beautiful writing of Miranda Cowley Heller between the pages of her family drama, The Paper Palace. After telling everyone who would listen that it was the perfect summer novel, I was incredibly fortunate to interview Heller. It was one of my favorite author conversations and I was so hopeful she’d write again - it’s incredibly hard to find a solid family novel with the depth of story and caliber of writing that she brings to the page.
•
So, when I heard her next publication was a collection of poetry, I was both excited and a bit nervous as poetry has always been a struggle for me. To my relief, this is really a memoir told in vignettes - there are some sections that read like short stories and others pages are sparse, like traditional poetry, but it all comes together as a raw and very intimate look at the author’s life. From childhood traumas to marriage, motherhood and the breakup of a marriage, Heller shares very private moments and fears that will resonate with women of the same age.
•
What the Deep Water Knows reads like a stream of consciousness memoir and is living proof that sometimes you need to bare your soul to heal— it’s both powerful and painfully tender.
•
“Try to untangle yourself.
“Try to live without holding your breath.”
•
I have pages upon pages folded down with quotes.
I purchased my copy from Blackwells but it will be available in the US as of 7/1.
No star rating as this is a memoir.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars.

[Michelle]

Raw. Emotional. Heartbreaking.

Here are a few of my favorite excerpts:

"If you could read my mind,
it would tell you such terrible stories,
you would finally be able to forgive yourself
for leaving me behind to bleed out."

"That what held me in your orbit
all those years was only a mirage.
That what I mistook for beauty
was only borrowed light."

"I am profoundly sad that I can never read your words again for the first time."

[adeebo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The titular poem was one of my favorites. While there were some poems that I didn’t truly resonate with/enjoy, the bulk of this was arguably powerful and invoking. I absolutely loved the grouping of poems. Thank you to Zibby Publishing for an advance copy!

[Bookish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry is so hard for me to rate, as it is outside my wheelhouse and not my normal reading genre, but overall, I really enjoyed this.

What the Deep Water Knows was a short, direct, and at times, searing collection of nonfiction poems written by the author of The Paper Palace, who is taking stock of her life and reflecting on her past experiences, mistakes, and heartbreaks.

There were a few particularly poignant lines that spoke to me, especially those about marriage and motherhood, so I'll leave you with one.

"We're meant to regret the past, but I regret the future. I regret the things I have not yet lost, I regret the things I will never know."

The ending, which is the titular poem, I will leave out so as not to spoil it, but it also resonated with me deeply as I realized it was about Cape Cod, a place where, like the author, I grew up and it remains a part of my identity and history.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Zibby Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Zibby Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This breathtaking and intimate debut poetry collection forms a powerful narrative arc about womanhood, motherhood, marriage, heartbreak, and self-reclamation. It follows a woman grappling with the complexities of her past and the fragile boundaries between love and betrayal. Beneath the surface, this collection delves into themes of grief, identity, and the lies we tell ourselves to keep afloat.

At its core, this work examines the power of memory and its elusive nature. The author examines how we can become trapped in our recollections, caught between what actually happened and what we wish had happened. Through the protagonist’s fragmented memories, she investigates the lasting effects of love, betrayal, and loss. The collection subtly questions: How much of what we tell ourselves is real? And when we finally confront the truth, are we prepared for it?

I loved the writing; the sentences are long and winding, filled with sensory detail and emotional nuance. I think the author has a special gift in bringing settings to life—the sea, in particular, feels like a living, breathing presence throughout the collection.

To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://shows.acast.com/moms-dont-hav...

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way back when I was in college as an English major, I read and loved poetry. I haven't read much poetry in the years since so I decided that it was time to get out of my selected genres and give it a try. This book of poetry was the perfect place to start. It describes the author's feelings from childhood to marriage and divorce and motherhood. Her joy and her pain shine through her beautiful words. Some of the poems didn't resonate but others touched me deeply. I'm so happy that I took a chance on this well written and emotional poetry

[Riley Rourke · Rating 4 out of 5]

i read this in preparation for an interview with miranda but i couldn’t stop reading it. i was like tearing up in the capital one cafe over it because she captures so many feelings and universal moments in her poems. i don’t even like poems but these were something special and i adored them. such a raw and beautiful work!

[Reisse Myy Fredericks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll read anything by Miranda Cowley Heller, and this elegant, memoiristic collection reveals just how much of The Paper Palace was drawn from life: a first-time novelist’s tell, but a card counter’s move I’d let pass any day. Tonally even and provocative, it proves her command of form across genre. I could live forever inside her hummingbird metaphors.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

What the Deep Water Knows was an interesting collection of poems. While I enjoyed some, a few did not resonate with me. However, I love the idea of putting one's beautiful words, thoughts and life together for the world to read.

Thank you to the publisher, Zibby Books for this advance reader copy.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bravo! Miranda Cowley Heller, Bravo!

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

good but incredibly depressing

[Jenny Lindquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it!

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best poetry book I have read in AWHILE. It explores love & loss in every sense of the words. beautifully written and extremely relatable.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.