How to Love a Beautiful, Broken World

A message of hope, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Comfort of Crows: The world is still beautiful, even in its brokenness.

In 2023, Margaret Renkl was asked to speak to graduates at the University of the South in Sewanee. Preparing her remarks, she wondered what counsel she could possibly offer young people entering a world that looks incalculably different from the one she entered after college. She wondered, too, why this audience should trust her, when her generation has wrecked so much of what should be precious.

Instead of offering advice for success, Renkl decided to pass along the most important lesson she has learned over the course of her life: how to survive despair, one glimmer of light at a time. In this short book, intended for all readers—young, old, or simply in need of a little encouragement—she expands on her speech, telling four stories that each demonstrate a fundamental truth. The world is beautiful. People are good. The future is not determined. And we are not powerless. Yes, we are at a moment of great peril to the earth, to democracy, to respect for human dignity. But, Renkl argues, all change begins with finding something to fight for and reasons to keep fighting. The living world, she reminds us, is still redeemable and worthy of love—no matter how broken it might seem.

Praise for Margaret Renkl:

“Margaret Renkl is a singular, spectacular writer.”—Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of Whistler

“Margaret Renkl is the most beautiful writer!”—Reese Witherspoon

“One of Renkl’s skills as a writer is to transfer her ability to perceive the nuances of the natural world, things most of us overlook, onto the page […] Paying attention to the living things in her backyard helps her cope with climate change, political strife and cultural upheaval—and she hopes it will help the reader, too.”—The New York Times

“Reading Margaret Renkl always connects me more deeply to the natural world and my own heart […]”—Dani Shapiro, New York Times bestselling author of Inheritance

“Whether describing bluebird nests or her own empty one, Renkl is part poetic prophet, part your down-home friend. […] ‘the world is full of song,’ she writes—wake up and listen!”—People

“Renkl’s deft juxtapositions close up the gap between humans and nonhumans and revive our lost kinship with other living things.”—Richard Powers, New York Times bestselling author of The Overstory

“I am certain Margaret Renkl’s enchanting voice will echo for lifetimes to come.”—Aimee Nezhukumatathil, New York Times bestselling author of World of Wonders

“Renkl’s voice sounds very close to the reader’s ear: intimate, confiding, candid and alert.”—Shelf Awareness

“Margaret Renkl has the mind of a naturalist and the soul of a poet.”—Mary Laura Philpott, author of Bomb Shelter

Praise for The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl (Reese’s Book Club Pick):

“Above all, The Comfort of Crows is a full-throated ode to the hopefulness of regeneration… It is a paean not just to the natural world, but to paying attention and doing one’s bit to nurture it…”—Wall Street Journal