Tired new mothers and new fathers will find hope and laughter in this collection of poetry, fiction, and essays. Via Half Moon Waking, parents walking through a miscarriage can receive tangible comfort.

Here are the reflections of a woman who has cried with you . . . has wrestled through the same grief.

Here are also those questions whose answers don't fit nicely within proper, typical prose. Questions such as, "What is the meaning of life?" or "Where exactly is heaven located?"

Poetry is able to place hard and abstract pains into understandable frames. Half Moon Waking offers poetry, metaphors, and fiction, rather than "teaching" or "how-to-guides," so that refreshing insights on surviving babies, toddlers, marriage challenges, parenting abroad, living overseas, or grieving a miscarriage can all be digested in a soothing and empathetic way. Essays, written with care and compassion, offer real-time and hands-on support to new moms and new dads, through the asking of vulnerable questions.

Liv Hunziker's vast spread of creative writing genres enables each reader to pick up where they left off or to simply jump right into the middle of this encouraging book. Haiku's and bite-sized phrases are the real balm, the deeper empathy, that mothers, tired parents, and anyone suffering a miscarriage, have been needing. These lines and expertly crafted poems are indeed the artists' alternative to didactic teaching or preaching. When not for oneself, this book is the right resource to hand to a friend grieving a miscarriage and is also a timely gift for baby showers, Mother's Day, Father's Day, or other seasonal holidays.

Leaf through this collection at the pace that works for you, let it rest a few weeks on your coffee table, and then pick it up again, to soak in the parenting puzzles, traveler joys, hiker perspectives, and honest questions. The dexterity of lyrics, the genuine transparency, and the respect for nature in Half Moon Waking will satisfy and restore each reader, as well as strengthen the significant relationships and families we all find ourselves in.