Summary

Part I is called “Don’t Let Me Keep You” and corresponds to the denial phase of grief. It begins with a present tense account of a burglary at the New York City apartment of the author, Sloane Crosley. She imagines watching the thief break into her apartment through her bedroom window, before ransacking an antique spice cabinet she uses to store her jewelry, and leaving with all of her jewelry including items she inherited from her grandmother. Crosley reveals that her grandmother was an unpleasant woman whom she did not like and who was abusive towards Crosley’s mother when she was a child. The only item of jewelry remaining was half a gold chain that had been broken in two when the burglar tried to remove it. The burglary took place on the 27th June 2019. One month later, on the 27th July...