Rachel Howard’s gripping, moving debut novel, The Risk of Us, is just out, the story of a woman who longs to be a mother and the captivating yet troubled child she and her husband take in. In this second of two episodes, Rachel and I discuss the fears the adoptive couple has, as well as the incredible challenges they face when interacting with the system. Matthew asks Rachel about how she created and sustained the tension felt throughout the novel, issues the couple faces with the potential adoptive child, and how our pasts affect our abilities to give and receive unconditional love - and whether it’s even possible.

Rachel Howard earned her MFA in fiction from Warren Wilson College and is the author of a memoir, The Lost Night, featured on This American Life. Rachel is the recipient of a MacDowell Colony fellowship, and her fiction, essays, and dance criticism have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere.