Know the Night: A Memoir of Survival in the Small Hours
Mutch’s eldest son, Gabriel, was born with Down syndrome and then, as a toddler, lost his words and developed behavior that led to a diagnosis of autism as well. For a period of two years as a young teenager, Gabriel also lost the night, waking at all hours and requiring continuous attention between  midnight and six a.m. Viewing Gabriel through the shadow of night, Mutch became interested to the point of obsession with explorer Richard Byrd and his solitary experiences in the long Antarctic night. As she recounts Gabriel’s love of jazz and their nighttime visits to area clubs, she ruminates on the mysteries of the music’s rhythms and the solace it provides her mysterious son. In this poetic, elegant, and intense account,  Mutch quietly writes of  nights filled with confusion and chaos, and deep, unfulfilled wishes to understand. Saving Gabriel, she explains, is no simple thing; it requires a sustained rescue. This is her record of that rescue, the endless determination of  parents  to “see” their complicated child. --Colleen Mondor