Named a Most-Anticipated or Must-Read Book:
Publishers Weekly, LitHub, The Millions, Good Morning America, Refinery29, BookPage, Jewish Women’s Archive, Apartment Therapy, Alma, Books Are Magic, & more

In her literary debut, internationally award-winning writer Courtney Zoffness considers what we inherit from generations past—biologically, culturally, spiritually—and what we pass on to our children. Zoffness relives her childhood anxiety disorder as it manifests in her firstborn; endures brazen sexual advances by a student in her class; grapples with the implications of her young son's cop obsession; and challenges her Jewish faith. What role does a mother play, she asks, in raising thoughtful, generous children? Where is the line between privacy and secrecy? How do the stories we tell inform who we become?

 Praise for SPILT MILK

“Gentle, playful and laced with subtle wit, these essays are a welcome balm in an insane and un-gentle time.”
—Mary Gaitskill, author of This is Pleasure


“There is so much I want to say about Spilt Milk, but honestly they’re all variations of This is fucking brilliant. Whatever you think this book is, it’s more. A debut writer this talented and skilled is an event in itself.”
—Mat Johnson, author of Pym


“Wry and masterful. Courtney Zoffness is a writer of supernatural acuity and wit.”
—T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls


In these ten musical, open-hearted essays, Courtney Zoffness establishes herself as one of our most soulful, clear-eyed narrators. A lucid dream of a book I wished would never end.”
—Elisa Albert, author of After Birth


“Zoffness recreates tender, moving, and poetic moments that will etch their way into your brain and heart for a very long time.”
–Apartment Therapy

Spilt Milk is current, self-examining, honest, insightful, biting, and funny. Essentially, it’s a perfect book.”
—Jesse Eisenberg, actor and playwright


“Courtney Zoffness is wondrous calculus of a prose writer: keen, inventive, candid, generous, not to mention one helluva stylist.”
—Mitchell S. Jackson, author of Survival Math


”Terrific…Insightfully captures how the past shapes who we are and who we might become.”
—Booklist (starred review)

“These bright, knowing essays spill over with intelligence and wit. Courtney Zoffness traces the dizzying conflict faced by parents—the daily ricochet between burden and joy—and, with a sharply lyric voice, discovers hidden connections between this domestic struggle and the larger cultural and political winds shifting around us.”
—Ben Marcus, author of Notes from the Fog


“Each essay is just as thoughtful and smart and well-told as the last one — don’t miss this.”
–Alma

“Courtney Zoffness is a gorgeous writer with that rarest of qualities: heart. Spilt Milk contains the wisdom of a mother, the maturity of an older sister, and the wide-eyed wonder of a small child. It's a magical gift of a collection.”
—Lisa Taddeo, author of Three Women

“This provocative, insightful memoir in essays is an exploration into motherhood and womanhood during this sometimes unfathomably complicated time we call our own. Courtney Zoffness writes with lucidity and a welcome vulnerability.”
–Refinery29, “Best New Books of 2021”

“Courtney Zoffness writes with a fierce and often funny honesty.”
—Tiphanie Yanique, author of Land of Love and Drowning

“Zoffness delivers masterful essays in a fresh, vulnerable voice.”
–Publishers Weekly (starred review)

”These ten essays are generous and vulnerable, warm and acerbic.”
–Chicago Review of Books

“In her layered storytelling, she brings empathy to every situation and often finds empathy for herself along the way.”
–BookPage (starred review)