My daughter was born as twiggy and translucent as a baby bird, her eyes fused shut, mouth agape. Through her chest we could see her flickering heart.

Juniper arrived at 23 weeks and 6 days gestation: the threshold between viability and futility, between what is possible and what is right. For me, after five years of infertility, she came at the trembling membrane between motherhood and despair.

She weighed 1 pound 4 ounces. That’s the size of a 6-week-old kitten or an adult Eastern gray squirrel. It’s the amount of breast milk an eight-pound newborn drinks in a day. It’s $1.26 in pennies.

Two former Times writers, Pulitzer Prize winner Tom French and his wife, Pulitzer finalist Kelley Benham French, return to talk about the nonfiction book they co-wrote. Juniper: The Girl Who Was Born Too Soon is the remarkable story of their daughter, born a micro-preemie at 23 weeks gestation, weighing only 1 pound, 4 ounces.

"I probably would have read Juniper in one sitting, but I had to stop because I was crying too hard."

Juniper French was born four months early, at 23 weeks’ gestation. She weighed just over one pound. She was on the edge of viability — a so-called “micro-preemie.” Several decades ago, she never would have survived. In order to live, she would be constantly hooked up to machines and monitors. If she survives, she might be severely brain damaged. Juniper’s parents — journalists Kelley Benham French and Thomas French — had to decide what they were willing to do to save her or if the greater act of love was to let her go. Guest host Nia-Malika Henderson talks to them about navigating what is medically possible and what is right.

"We started to try to build a world for her that was bigger than that box. And we decided that parenting wasn't something we might get to do someday in the future, it was what we were doing right now, and if it was just for an hour, we were going to be the best parents we could be."

The Frenches bring an unflinching, exceedingly painful clarity to a story of already excruciating anxiety. In the background, of course, is the reader’s knowledge of the most important truth of the story: Juniper is okay. She is healthy. She is happy. And the story of her birth, four months early, is told with love and brutal honesty, by her parents.

This is a gut-wrenching, hope-filled, then hope-dashed, then hope-filled-again book that is very difficult to put down. 

"... raw, rough and wrenchingly tender."

"It is a twisting, harrowing, at times painful but powerful memoir, fiercely reported and written with exquisite sensitivity and openness."

This story of resilience and love will curl around your heart, reminding you that even the darkest moments can lead to light.

Kelley and Tom French tell the tale of Juniper’s survival in excruciating, dramatic, riveting detail.