A Brother Lost and Found: Sierra Bellows

September 19, 2011 § 2 Comments

We’ve been pleased over the few years to see so many Brevity authors appear in The New York Times Modern Love essay section. Proof, we like to think, that The New York Times shares our devotion to voice, intimate detail, and the power of brief nonfiction. Plus, in most cases, we featured the authors first. It honestly feels good to help new voices reach a large audience.

Yesterday, Brevity 30 author Sierra Bellows appeared with a sharp, honest essay about her troubled brother. Here’s a bit of the opening, followed by a link to the full essay:

Five years ago, a day after a court awarded sole custody of my brother to my father, his mother — my stepmother — used a secret second passport to spirit him out of the country. My father found her rented apartment empty. She had sold her S.U.V. days before. Their divorce proceedings had been ugly; she wanted money and they had fought for custody.

At first, we didn’t know where she had taken him. To South Korea, where she had a lover? To the Philippines, where her family lived? My father made calls. He talked to the local police. He spoke with Interpol.

A BROTHER, LOST AND FOUND IN THE NY TIMES

Tagged: Modern Love, New York Times, Sierra Bellows

§ 2 Responses to A Brother Lost and Found: Sierra Bellows

Rosemarie DiMatteo says:

September 19, 2011 at 11:20 am

Thanks, Dinty, for bringing this to your blog. I would have missed it.

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aim says:

June 30, 2013 at 10:56 am

How about the other side of the story? Is the mother of your brother dead already? and how about the privacy issue of your brother? Sounds to me that the mother of your brother could be a battered wife! Was the brother then eventually abducted by the father from the Philippines? Is the writer has so much unresolved anger for her stepmother? the step-mom appears like a classic movie “my mother is a monster”.

Flipping the coin, all I can feel is a profound compassion for the mother and child. Hope at the end, there would be a heart emerging out of this unfortunate life tragedy. After all, we are all HUMAN and individually imperfect.

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