The Psalmist

A piercing, inspirational story of love and transformation, The Psalmist follows a recovering alcoholic who, reeling from his mother’s death and his sister’s disappearance, finds unexpected community and grace while raising his sister’s baby.

When Mark returns to his hometown in rural Vermont for his mother’s funeral, the last thing he expects is to find himself raising his sister Beth’s newborn baby. But with Beth gone and with no one else to take responsibility, he has no choice but to put his life in Boston on hold. Caught between worry about his sister’s disappearance, anger from knowing his sister’s absence is driven by addiction, and stress over his newfound position as a guardian, Marks finds his life turning into a whirlwind of uncertainty.

Struggling, yet knowing he can’t break down, Mark turns to the Psalms. Every day he finds a random psalm to read, one that can help him to make sense of his chaotic life. As a radio producer, it seems only natural to record himself reading these psalms aloud, along with any other snippets of noise he can catch throughout the day, be it the sound of the wind or the yet-to-be-named baby crying. As the days go by, Mark finds a world reconfigured by love—for his niece, for his friends, for the blossoming world around him—and a grace that he never imagined he’d experience.

• PRAISE FOR JOHN WEST"West finds possibilities for language that birth possibilities for how to be.”
   
  James K. A. Smith, editor in chief of Image and author of How (Not) to Be Secular and How to Inhabit Time
• “Memoirs composed of sections are tempting to a writer, but the deeper difficulties belie the seeming ease. The overall rhythm, the weave of recurrence, the manipulation of the timeline—every element must be tuned by instinct. John West has that instinct.”
  Sven Birkerts, editor of AGNI and author of Then, Again: The Art of Time in the Memoir
• "[A] frank, edgy, hopeful story about recovery and slippage and squalor and eruptions of love and sudden epiphanies […] For those who have struggled with addiction or depression, and those who love them, this is a gritty, gutsy, unabashed and surprising book about hope.”
  Marilyn McEntyre, author of Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies and When Poets Pray
• “John West’s pursuit of truth and beauty in this book is both masterful and unforgettable.” 
  Chelsea Hodson, author of Tonight I’m Someone Else
• “[A] melodic and observant book unafraid to circle the complexities of love and parenthood. Smart, potent, and fearless writing.” 
   
  Megan Mayhew Bergman, author of How Strange a Season and Almost Famous Women
• “[West] can make moments of the highest lyricism also moments of perfect clarity."
  Shane McCrae, author of The Gilded Auction Block
• “With sensitivity and wild intelligence, John West enters a psychic and emotional netherworld, moving among the shades of addiction, the fog of confusion, to emerge changed, connected to life and to love and to art.”
   
  Mark Wunderlich, author of The Earth Avails and God of Nothingness