Augustana Lutheran Church of Hyde Park

NEXT TIME YOU COME HOME, a book written by former Augustana member Milly
Dordal, in collaboration with her daughter Lisa, will be released this fall (Sept 2023) by Black
Lawrence Press. Milly Dordal died in 2001, and in 2021 her daughter rediscovered a box of
letters her mother had written to her over a twelve-year period (1989-2001). The book is a
distillation of these letters into short, meditative entries that reflect upon motherhood, marriage,
grief, the beauty of the natural world, same-sex relationships, and the passage of time.
 
The final entries are something between letters and poems—not fully letters and not fully poems
but, instead, their own thing—and portray a mother who, despite her alcoholism, maintains an
engaged and compassionate presence in the world, one nourished by intellectual curiosity, life-
long relationships with family and friends, and active involvement in a religious community
(especially, Augustana Lutheran Church of Hyde Park).
 
Although the letters are not explicitly theological, there is something spiritual in their meditative
focus on small, ordinary moments—a sense of focus that seems particularly important in this era
of social media, when it’s all too easy to lose focus.
 
New York Times writer Margaret Renkl says this about the book: “A newly recovered trove of
letters is the source material for Next Time You Come Home, but the collection’s true genius lies
in the communion of mother and daughter across time. In distilling her late mother’s letters to
their loving essence, Lisa Dordal focuses not on the “nighttime mother” who drank until her
speech was slurred but on the vibrant, nurturing “daytime mother” who taught her how to love
the world. This is a radical compassion that heals, offering understanding without excuses or
justifications, love without benchmarks or conditions. From its haunting title onward, Next Time
You Come Home is an utter original.” 
 
More information about NEXT TIME YOU COME HOME, including how to pre-order a
copy, can be found here: https://blacklawrencepress.com/books/next-time-you-come-home/