Where you end and I begin : a memoir / Leah McLaren.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2022]Copyright date: ©2022Edition: First editionDescription: 240 pages ; 24 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780063037182
- 0063037181
- McLaren, Leah
- McLaren, Leah -- Childhood and youth
- McLaren, Leah -- Family
- Women authors, Canadian -- 21st century -- Biography
- Authors, Canadian -- 21st century -- Biography
- Women journalists -- Canada -- Biography
- Journalists -- Canada -- Biography
- Mothers and daughters -- Canada
- Mothers and daughters
- Children of divorced parents -- Canada -- Biography
- Adult children of divorced parents -- Canada -- Biography
- Children of divorced parents -- Family relationships
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | Biography | MCLAREN, L. M161 | Available | 33111010865398 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
A daughter's remarkable and unflinching exploration of the unconventionally intimate relationship she shared with her mother--a brilliant and charismatic woman haunted by past trauma.
When her daughter is eight, Leah McLaren's mother abruptly fled her life as rural house wife in search a glamorous career in the city. In the chaotic years that follow, Cecily lurches from one apartment, job and toxic romance to the next. In a home without rules or emotional boundaries, Leah and Cecily become confidants--a state of enmeshment that suits them both. Their bond is loving but also marked by casual indifference. Cecily's self-described parenting style of "benign neglect" is a hilarious party joke, but for her daughter it's reality.
In Leah's first year of high school, Cecily makes a disclosure that will forever alter their relationship: From 12 to 15, Cecily confides, she was the lover of her 45-year-old married pony club instructor. The trauma of the "Horseman," she explains, is the reason for all her ill-conceived life choices, including marriage and motherhood itself which she now bitterly regrets.
For years after, into adulthood, Leah is haunted by the specter of the Horseman. He is the nameless darkness she observes in Cecily and worse yet, recognizes in herself. Eventually she sets out to discover truth of what became of her mother's rapist. Leah believes she will find solace in the facts, but first she must grasp a deeper truth: That this story--her story--is not the Horseman's after all.
A riveting and devastating portrait of mother and daughter, Where You End and I Begin explores the way intergenerational trauma is shared between women and how acts of harm can be confused with acts of love.
"A daughter's riveting, devastating portrait of her relationship with her mother, a brilliant and charismatic woman haunted by childhood sexual trauma. When an eight-year-old Leah McLaren's parents get divorced, her mother, Cessie, flees her conventional life as a suburban housewife in search of a glamorous journalism career. In the chaotic years that follow, with her daughter in tow, Cessie lurches from one apartment, job and toxic romance to the next. Their bond is loving but also marked by casual indifference. Cessie's self-described parenting style of "benign neglect" is a hilarious party joke and Leah's stark reality. Their family motto, "Commitment sucks the life right out of you" is tacked up on every rental fridge. Inside the shelves are empty. During Leah's first year of high school she becomes gripped with anxiety following a troubling early sexual experience at a party. Cessie, in turn, makes a disclosure that will alter everything: from the age of twelve to fifteen, she was in a clandestine relationship with her middle-aged, married riding instructor. The damage inflicted by the "Horseman," Cessie explains, is the reason for all her ill-conceived life choices, including marriage, divorce and even motherhood itself. Both women will spend decades haunted by the specter of the Horseman, until they decide to investigate what became of him--an ill-conceived quest that will test the bonds of love and redefine their relationship forever. Written with searing candour and merciless wit, Where You End and I Begin is an intimate exploration of the ways intergenerational trauma is shared between women, and how acts of harm can be confused with acts of love."-- Provided by publisher.