Miracle Grow of the Mind is a funny, heartbreaking exploration of parenthood, disability, medical bureaucracy, Big Agro, food allergies, and environmental pathogens. When Amy and Michael’s son is born prematurely, they are thrust into a world of pediatric neurologists, sensory reintegration therapy, and endless evaluations.
Michael also struggles with a mother suffering from dementia, who insists he is the grown-up version of a brother who died in infancy. When the Kafkaesque Bureau of Preschool Special Education threatens to make their son repeat kindergarten, the family must confront how they are living and decide which therapies—everything from Mel Finkelstein’s sensory reintegration sessions to pediatric neurologist visits—are worth the emotional toll.

Praise for Miracle Grow of the Mind

“Everyone should read this miracle of a book. Carol LaHines is a fearless writer. With brutal honesty, laugh-aloud-humor, faultless dialogue, understanding, and ultimately with great empathy and compassion, she portrays all our misguided efforts to control our bodies, our children, and our lives.”

—Sheila Kohler, author of award-winning novels including Becoming Jane Eyre, Cracks, and Open Secrets

“With brilliant, glittering threads, LaHines has weaved a profound, tear-jerking yet humorous parenting saga in her latest novel, Miracle Grow of the Mind. New York City parents Amy and Michael are trying their damndest to raise their disabled son, Griffin, in the annoying, administrative world of psychologists, speech therapists, occupational therapists and sensory gyms—always with freeze dried kale and gluten free cupcakes in hand. But LaHines seeds hope with scientific precision and wit, as these characters leap from the page (and their precarious world of estrogen receptor chemicals) into your psyche.”

—Maureen Pilkington, author of This Side of Water: Stories