‘Life, like a poem, is a series of choices’ In her highly anticipated debut, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, award-winning poet Maggie Smith explores in lyrical vignettes the end of her marriage and the beginning of an unexpected new life. With the spirit of reflection and empathy that characterizes her, Smith intertwines snapshots of a life with reflections on secrets, anger, forgiveness, and storytelling itself. It is a story about a mother's intense and unwavering love for her children, and about a woman's love and appreciation for herself. Above all, this memoir is an argument for possibility. Smith reveals how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our strength and create something new. Something beautiful.