Glitter and glue

"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Middle Place comes a new memoir that examines the bond--sometimes nourishing, sometimes exasperating, occasionally divine--between mothers and daughters. When Kelly Corrigan was in high school, her mother neatly summarized the family dynamic as "Your father's the glitter but I'm the glue." This meant nothing to Kelly, who left childhood sure that her mom--with her inviolable commandments and proud stoicism--would be nothing more than background chatter for the rest of Kelly's life, which she was carefully orienting toward adventure. After college, armed with a backpack, her personal mission statement, and a wad of traveler's checks, she took off for Australia to see things and do things and Become Interesting. But it didn't turn out the way she pictured it. In a matter of months, her fanny pack full of savings had dwindled and she realized she needed a job.^ That's how Kelly met John Tanner, a newly widowed father of two looking for a live-in nanny. They chatted for an hour, discussed timing and pay, and a week later, Kelly moved in. And there, in that house in a suburb north of Sydney, her mother's voice was suddenly everywhere, nudging and advising, cautioning and directing, escorting her through a terrain as foreign as any she had ever trekked. Every day she spent with the Tanner kids was a day spent reconsidering her relationship with her mother, turning it over in her hands like a shell, straining to hear whatever messages might be trapped in its spiral. This is a book about the difference between travel and life experience, stepping out and stepping up, fathers and mothers. But mostly it's about who you admire and why, and how that changes over time. Advance praise for Glitter and Glue: "Kelly Corrigan's heartfelt homage to motherhood is every bit as tough and funny as it is nostalgic and searching.^ It's a tale about growing up, gaining wisdom, and reconciling with Mom (something we all must do eventually), but it's also an honest meditation on our deepest fears of death and abandonment. I loved this book, I was moved by this book, and now I will share this book with my own mother--along with my renewed appreciation for certain debts of love that can never be repaid"--Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love; "In this endearing, funny, and thought-provoking memoir, Kelly Corrigan's memories of long-ago adventures illuminate the changing relationships between mothers an

Year

2014

Language

English

Publisher

Coronet

Editions

2

Pages

352

ISBN

9781444725148

Data source: Wikidata