How Casey wrote a very vivid and honest memory as if it is just happened yesterday? The stories are somehow simple yet important to understand family, relationships, grief, addiction, and glorious childhood. She's willing to open up about her past in such an openness in all that complexity. It's very nostalgic, warm, and tender making me stop every chapter to reflect on my own life.

Emily Arnason Casey blends lyrical prose and brutal honesty in Made Holy, a debut collection of addiction, family, and relationships.

Casey's maternal family line suffers from alcoholism in ways subtle and overt, acknowledged and denied. Casey's chapters on her own struggle are oftentimes violent, but essentially so, as she does not shy away from letting readers in to her darkest moments before realizing the need for recovery. She takes the time to analyze other members of her family with the same problem, and ruminates on the meaning of family legacy. These darker stories are contrasted with essays on growing up at an idyllic lake house with her siblings and on into adulthood as she enters recovery and becomes a parent herself.

This collection is worth reading for the aforementioned prose alone. Casey in a natural at weaving stark imagery and wordplay, which evokes a quiet and haunting melancholia that ensures each passage is memorable. It's a wonderful, introspective yet openhearted work that is highly recommended to fans of memoirs.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to University of Georgia Press..**

Made Holy serves as my introduction to the work of Emily Arnason Casey. I appreciate this author's use of personal story and clear prose to share parts of her life in letters. This book makes me glad that I am a reader, and serves as a mentor text for writers who want to share their stories in powerful and effective ways.

I would recommend this book for nonfiction lovers, readers who enjoy essays, and those who enjoy the way words can shape a literary experience. I want to read more from this author.