When Vince Montague's wife perishes in a tragic car accident, he is plunged into a world of grief. After weeks of loneliness and despair, he begins to explore his wife's pottery studio in the wild hills of Northern California, teaching himself to mix clay, throw a pot, fire a kiln, trim and glaze. Just as his grief is ebbing and his future in clay is looking bright, a wildfire advances upon his studio and threatens to destroy everything he has created. Cracked Pot is a singular book: a story of love lost and the labyrinthine path through grief; a meditation on the craft of pottery and its power to inspire and restore; a rumination on the life of a writer and the refuge of words; an examination of how generational family trauma can shape an artist. Montague's haunting memoir is a kaleidoscopic and redemptive reading experience, one that serves to remind its readers about the cracks and the light. "Cracked Pot is a soul-baring memoir of love, creativity, loss, grief, and creativity again." --Benjamin Dreyer, New York Times bestselling author of Dreyer's English "If you've somehow lost your heart in the fog of grieving, your hands might just provide a roadmap to rediscovery. Vince Montague's Cracked Pot arrives from a chasm of emptiness, building with profundity and grace upward to a quiet roar." --Bruce Dehnert, co-author of the bestseller Simon Leach's Pottery Handbook, master kiln-builder, artist, and member of the International Academy of Ceramics (UNESCO)