A raw and honest glimpse into the first year of a mother grieving her child. For grieving parents—and for those who wish to understand a mother’s love, and how it endures beyond unbearable loss.

"We believe your son Max is missing."
What kind of nonsense is that? Missing? How long do you have to
be gone before someone reports you missing?

On the night of May 11-12, 2020, Marjolein Hartman is told that her son Max is one of five surfers who died off the coast of Scheveningen-in a freak display of natural forces. They suffocated in a thick layer of foam that had formed just offshore due to a sudden shift in wind. The tragedy shocks the nation and makes international headlines.

Utterly devastated, Marjolein tries to keep herself upright in a world turned upside down. Searching for a lifeline, she starts writing just weeks later. With raw honesty, fierce love, and brutal clarity, MAX takes the reader shockingly close from day one, sharing her pain and her struggle during that first year of grieving as a mother.

MAX - A Mother's First Year of Raw Grief is more than a personal account. It's a mirror for grieving parents, and a window for everyone close to them. Readers describe it as a wave of recognition-a book that offers not answers, but the deep comfort of knowing you're not alone. That what you feel is not madness, but mourning.

For those close to the bereaved-friends, siblings, partners, professionals-MAX provides a rare and intimate glimpse into what raw grief truly looks like, and what it takes to simply survive.
As the Dutch newspaper NRC wrote in its review: "Her story is as raw as life itself and as inescapable as death."

MAX is, above all, a book about love. A mother's love in its purest, fiercest form.

Marjolein Hartman (b. 1974) is a writer, entrepreneur, and public speaker from Amsterdam. Following the death of her son, her raw and honest reflections on grief turned her into a widely recognized voice on parental bereavement in the Netherlands. The original Dutch edition Rauw ("raw") became a national bestseller. She has since spoken at countless events, appeared on television and radio, and continues to support grieving parents and professionals through her writing and talks.