Maureen Corrigan

Directly behind us was a concrete area with overflowing trash bins, oil barrels, rusted cans, and discarded junk."

The massive crawlspace beneath the buildings was called the Rat House.

As readers of Smith's books and Instagram posts know, she's drawn to tumble-down places and things.

The Chelsea Hotel, circa 1969.

Rockaway Beach in the 1970s.

Cemeteries, falling leaves.

That reverie about the patch reveals Smith's bent for seeing beauty in decay was established early.

The most riveting moment in this memoir is Smith's first glimpse of Fred.

On tour in 1976 for Horses, Smith and her band went to a party in Detroit.

That's when I first saw him, Smith says.

He stood by a white radiator in a blue overcoat.

I noticed the threads where a button was missing.

He placed the button in my hand.

I felt a gravitational force, my being truly shaken.

I knew in that moment he was the one I would marry.

What unfurls from that meeting is Smith's hit Because the Night, as well as the decision to step back from performing and into a quiet life with Fred and their two children in Michigan.

Smith explains, "...the desire for illumination eclipsed that of ambition.

Our life was obscure, perhaps not so interesting to some, but for us it was a whole life."

The marriage lasted 14 years until Fred Smith's death from heart failure.

Bread of Angels isn't perfect.