"In The Rival, Sara Wallace takes her readers on an intimate journey through a woman's brutal, sexually fraught first marriage and her solitary, surreal rural childhood to the conflicted redemption she finds in motherhood and a second chance at love. In this debut poetry collection, Wallace reveals how closely devastation and transcendence can co-exist. The Rival is sensuous, darkly humorous, and frequently luminous in its unflinching exploration of the inner life" --