“The arrival of a child throws the various characters in Into the Wilderness into confusion. With delicacy and generosity, David Ebenbach follows as they try to find their uncertain ways, discovering that, whatever their ages, some reach parenthood before they’re ready to tackle adulthood.”
--Stewart O’Nan, award-winning author of Snow Angels, A Prayer for the Dying, Last Night at the Lobster, and Emily Alone

“For the very real people in David Ebenbach’s vivid and emotional stories, becoming a parent—as Judith, the single mother in four of the stories, says—is going ‘into the wilderness.’ A trip into the unknown, the primitive, the real. One single moment, the birth of a child, changes everything. It is the oldest human story and, in Ebenbach’s sure hands, the truest and most moving.”

--Jesse Lee Kercheval, author of Building Fiction, The Museum of Happiness, and The Dogeater

“There’s a Yiddish proverb that says, ‘Small children disturb your sleep, big children, your life.’ Whether writing about accidental mothers or gay fathers, dewy-eyed newborns or huffy teenagers, unwitting grandparents or noncommittal thirty-somethings, David Ebenbach takes us deep into the heart of the messy confusion and terror and unfathomable love that make up that shaky state we call parenthood. These stories are fearless, honest and true. They are also a joy to read.”
--Joan Leegant, author of Wherever You Go