“Barrett’s book is a great gift to those of us who must minister in time of loss.”
—Will Willimon, author and Bishop, the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church
In writing What Was Lost, Elise Barrett [is] electing not only to claim her grief, but also to record it without self-indulgence and with the kind of grace that, in the hands of the skilled writer, turns personal narrative into communal solace.
—from the foreword by Phyllis Tickle
United Methodist Pastor Elise Erikson Barrett draws on her own painful experiences as well as on interviews with others who have gone through the devastation of miscarriage in an effort to help women grieve and, in time, to think theologically about pregnancy loss.
Barrett also offers some much-needed practical advice about breaking the news to others, coping with insensitive comments, and grieving what is often a private loss, unmarked by the world.