This is the Mask: A Book Blog

Thank you NetGalley and Riverhead Books for the ARC of Angelica Glass’ memoir, Scavenging Beauty.

In Scavenging Beauty, Angelica Glass ruminates on the many phases of her life over hundreds of miles walked through Santa Cruz County, California. She relives a childhood spent with violent, disengaged parents, finding herself and her way as a teenager and young adult, and settling into a fulfilling life with a wife and children. Over the miles walked, Glass reflects on the understanding that while our past makes us who we are, it does not define us, and if we are able to accept the past, we can create a beautiful and fulfilling future for ourselves.

Walking is a meditation for Glass. Sometimes with a partner, but often alone, walking allows Glass the freedom to remember without distraction, I know that when I take a long walk, after a bit the chatter in my mind stops and I begin to pay more attention to birdsong, crickets and cicadas, to the splash and purl of the river beside the walking path. Poems are born in that not-quite-silent quiet, memories reflected on. I walk a familiar loop; Glass makes her walking meditations and reflections an adventure, exploring every road in the county she resides in.

Parts of this book are heartbreaking. No child should have to endure the abuse and neglect that Glass and her siblings did. It is that childhood that led Glass to become a social worker and serve others. Glass is forthright about the childhood abuse she experienced, so sensitive readers may wish to proceed with caution. Otherwise, Scavenging Beauty is well worth the read, perhaps followed by a long contemplative walk.

Scavenging Beauty will be published on July 7, 2026.