Cleave

by Holly Pelesky

At 21, Holly Pelesky gets pregnant after her second time having sex. She decides to place her daughter up for adoption and then move far away from her fundamentalist Christian upbringing to start a new life. Cleave is a tight collection of epistolary creative nonfiction that examines the ambiguous grief of being a birth mother caught in the momentum of adulthood and the constant choices that come along with it. In these letters to the daughter she didn't keep, Pelesky attempts to make peace with the decisions she's made as a mother and those she's made as someone's child. Full of hard realizations and tender moments, this book will break your f'n heart.

Genres: Memoir

116 pages, Paperback

Published July 26, 2022

About the author

Holly Pelesky writes essays, fiction, and poetry. She is the author of two books: a chapbook of poetry, Quiver, and a collection of epistolary creative nonfiction, Cleave. She received her MFA from the University of Nebraska and is currently working toward her MLIS. She works as an Arts & Culture librarian and is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Vast Literary Press. She lives in Omaha with her two boys and their new kitten.

Reviews

[Shannon Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pelesky writes of two houses, on two cliffs: “these cliffs create a deceiving proximity.” This image is clinging to me like soot. In Cleave she writes of her experience placing a child with adoptive parents, but this book is not really for us, it’s for the daughter and the absence that this act has formed in her. Split into three sections, with brief but dense essays that delineate childhood and motherhood with the thinnest of brushstrokes, we learn about mothering, and how it can come in many forms. Pelesky’s mastery of language and structure is on another level - as usual, Autofocus has selected an arresting, moving book for their roster.

[Chloe Seim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pelesky's expansive, concise, generous, and potent writing extends beyond the moving personal story of CLEAVE, of a mother writing to the daughter she placed for adoption at twenty-one, to write beautifully about motherhood, daughterhood, identity, and love. Every page is worthy of quoting, and every is line carefully written. I loved it!

[Joseph Haeger]

Most books should be written this honestly.

[Billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Equal turns heartbreaking and heartwarming, author Holly Pelesky bares her soul in this book of brief but dense essays about the jump from new adulthood to motherhood, hard decisions, and the spaces in between. Holly's writing and voice are superb, painting detailed pictures of the emotions that come from experiencing these events. A book that's well worth reading, and an excellent addition to publisher Autofocus' lineup.

[Mike Nagel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cleave is one of those rare books that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time, both incredibly personal and incredibly relatable, the work of a brilliant writer putting it all on the table. I absolutely loved it.

[Lucy Jayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished in one sitting. Holly’s writing is beautiful, vulnerable, and genuine. You can feel her beating heart in every sentence of this gorgeous novella.

[Jan Stinchcomb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightfully honest and brave.