Description

A New York Times Bestseller * An Apple Best Book of the Month, February 2025

An unforgettable portrait of an extraordinary life-one forged through a poverty-stricken childhood in ‘slummy, one-horse towns’; obsessive desire; bursts of comedy; and indispensable friendships, reflecting on the way art, music, and a deep connection to nature helped her on a singular journey to become a beloved, Grammy-nominated artist.

Neko Case has long been revered as one of music’s most influential artists, whose authenticity, lyrical storytelling, and sly wit have endeared her to a legion of critics, musicians, and lifelong fans. In The Harder I Fight The More I Love You, Case brings her trademark candour and precision to a memoir that traces her evolution from an invisible girl ‘raised by two dogs and a space heater’ in rural Washington state to her improbable emergence as an internationally-acclaimed talent.

In luminous, sharp-edged prose, Case shows readers what it’s like to be left alone for hours and hours as a child, to take refuge in the woods around her home, and to channel the monotony and loneliness and joy that comes from music, camaraderie, and shared experience into art.

The Harder I Fight The More I Love You is a rebellious meditation on identity and corruption, and a manifesto on how to make space for ourselves in this world, despite the obstacles we face.

Publisher Review

Reader, I really want to hand this book to you personally and tell you, in one excited rush, how much it moved me. The Harder I Fight, the More I Love You is a hell of an origin story: heartbreaking and funny, brave and weird, hard to swallow and impossible to put down. Neko Case has been my favorite singer-songwriter for many years, hands down, and now she’s written one of my favorite memoirs. — Maggie Smith, New York Times bestselling author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful This is a fierce, funny, moving memoir that will break your heart and patch it back up. Case’s writing is as piercing and beautiful as her gorgeous singing, and will carry you away completely. * New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean * A vivid, exuberant, heartrending coming-of-age story that demonstrates the saving power of art. This book captured me the way Case’s songs do: with their ache and beauty and promise that the only way through this life is to feel it all. — Melissa Febos, author of Girlhood, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism I burned through this book in three feverish days, overcome by the spellcasting, storytelling, and pure song of Neko Case’s words. Here is one of the most remarkable people you will ever meet, on the page or otherwise: So honest, kind, funny, and tender-so human-you will fall in love if you haven’t already. A book not so much about the creation of an icon as it is about the lionhearted love Neko Case has for the whole damn world. — Rachel Yoder, author of Nightbitch The gift of Neko Case as a memoirist mirrors the gift of Neko Case as a songwriter: there is a warmth of clarity, of language selection, of narrative flourish. This book reads, and feels, as if you are on a porch with an old friend, telling you stories you’ve heard a hundred times, but cannot wait to hear once more — Hanif Abdurraqib, author of the National Book Award finalist A Little Devil in America