In my mother's hands : a disturbing memoir of family life
Ward, Elizabeth, 1942-2014
Book
There are secrets in this family. Before Biff and her younger brother, Mark, there was baby Alison, who drowned in her bath because, it was said, her mother was distracted. Biff too, lives in fear of her mother's irrational behaviour and paranoia, and she is always on guard and fears for the safety of her brother. As Biff grows into teenagehood, there develops a conspiratorial relationship between her and her father, who is a famous and gregarious man, trying to keep his wife's problems a family secret. This was a time when the insane were committed and locked up in Dickensian institutions; whatever his problems her father was desperate to save his wife from that fate. But also to protect his children from the effects of living with a tragically disturbed mother. In My Mother's Hands is a beautifully written and emotionally perplexing coming-of-age true story about growing up in an unusual family.
Main title:
Author:
Ward, Elizabeth, 1942-, author
Imprint:
Sydney : Allen & Unwin, 2014.Crows Nest, NSW Allen & Unwin, 2014.©2014
Collation:
xii, 268 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm.
ISBN:
9781743319116
Dewey class:
306.87
Language:
English
Subject:
Ward, Elizabeth, 1942-Problem families -- New South Wales -- BiographyFamilies -- Australia -- BiographyFamilies -- New South Wales -- BiographyMental illnessMentally ill -- New South Wales -- BiographyMentally ill mothers -- New South Wales -- BiographyMentally ill mothers -- Family relationships -- New South Wales -- Biography
BRN:
285619