When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back

In 2015, Aidt's 25-year-old son died in a tragic accident. Chronicling the few first years after that devastating phone call, this work is at once a sober account of life after losing a child and an exploration of the language of poetry, loss, and love.

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Longlisted for the 2019 National Book Award for Translation

In March 2015, Naja Marie Aidt's twenty-five-year-old son, Carl, died in a tragic accident. When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back chronicles the few first years after that devastating phone call. It is at once a sober account of life after losing a child and an exploration of the language of poetry, loss, and love.

Intensely moving, When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back explores what is it to be a family, what it is to love and lose, and what it is to treasure life in spite of death's indomitable resolve.