Book Description

As a daughter untangles herself from the traumatic relationship with her mother, her life unfolds in ways she could never have imagined. A fascinating memoir of growing up in the outrageous 1960’s & 1970’s. Shockingly honest, warm, humorous and deeply insightful. Andrea Kitt was the sole survivor of seven miscarriages: the answer to her parents’ dreams, and the carrier of their pain, confusion, naivete and fear. As a child she hid: in silence, in a semi-numbness in which she tried not to feel anything much at all. The journey out of this hiding place was shameful, ecstatic, tragic and wonderful... She explored psychedelic drugs, danced in a strip club, worshipped an Indian god, and fell in love again and again. She screamed at inner demons, swam in coral seas, climbed mountains and gave birth to two beautiful children. And behind all this runs the story of how the challenging relationship with her mother shaped her life: As Andrea says: ‘How complicated, the mother daughter dance: what indignance and fury, softness, and soul-wrenching longing. How hard we try to be different, and how hard we try to be the same. Yet in the end, whether your mother has been jealous and critical, humble and kind, or painfully absent, there will come a day when you look in the mirror and see her looking back at you.’ After her own children have grown up, a major life crisis causes her to look deeply at the mother daughter dynamic that has dominated her life. At last she is able to unravel the painful cords of trauma and misunderstanding and find the peace and strength she has been looking for, and to enter into a healthy relationship...