Selected for 4 of Oprah's "Best Books" lists: * Best Memoirs * Best Beach Reads * Best First Lines * Top Books to Pick Up Now "Sometimes things shatter," writes Dawn Raffel in The Secret Life of Objects. "More often they just fade." But in this evocative memoir, moments from the past do not fade — they breathe on the page, rendering a striking portrait of a woman through her connections to the people she's loved, the places she been, what's been lost, and what remains. In clear, beautiful prose Raffel reveals the haunting qualities of the objects we gather, as well as the sustaining and elusive nature of memory itself." — Samuel Ligon, author of Drift and Swerve: Stories "Dawn puts memories, people and secrets together like perfectly set gems in these shimmering stories, which are a delight to read. Every detail is exquisite, every character beautifully observed, and every object becomes sacred in her kind, capable hands. I savored every word." — Priscilla Warner, author of Learning to Breathe — My Yearlong Quest to Bring Calm to My Life