Book Description

The Rope Swing is the story of one woman's attempt to save her mother from herself, and how she ultimately finds compassionate detachment instead. Written for anyone who grew up in a dysfunctional family and now has to take care of their aging parents, Candace Kearns Read's memoir tells the story of her days as a neurotic Hollywood screenwriter, script reader, and production assistant trying to save her drug-addicted mother from losing her house, her mind and her life, all the while struggling to preserve her own relationships, career, and sanity.Candace Kearns Read (http://candacekearnsread.com/) is a former Hollywood script reader who now teaches creative writing for Antioch University and Lighthouse Young Writers Program. Her screenplays have been optioned by producers and developed with Fox, Disney, HBO, and Lifetime. She is the author of the screenwriting handbook Shaping True Story into Screenplay, and her essays have been published on fullgrownpeople.com, The Manifest-Station, and elsewhere. "Candace Kearns Read writes with the propulsive energy of someone who knows that saving your life isn't a one time thing, but ongoing work, destined to happen again and again. THE ROPE SWING is the story of trying to keep a heart open against all the forces that would try to shut it down. But the real wonder is all the light on the page, ?so awake and warmed by inner fires." --Paul Lisicky, author of The Narrow Door (Graywolf Press, 2016). "Honest, compassionate, and full of deep, vivid, observation, Candace Kearns Read's The Rope Swing lays bare the ripple effects of growing up with emotional and financial uncertainty, and shows the bravery necessary to both make peace with and break free from one's past."--Gayle Brandeis, author of The Book of Dead Birds: A Novel (HarperCollins), Self Storage (Ballantine), Delta Girls (Ballantine) and My Life with the Lincolns (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers).