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In this triumphant return to nonfiction after two critically acclaimed works of fiction, Mary Gordon gives us a rich, bittersweet memoir about her mother, their relationship and her role as daughter.
Pantheon
August 2007
On Sale: August 14, 2007
Featuring: Anna Gagliano Gordon
ISBN: 0375424563
EAN: 9780375424564
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Memoir
Anna Gagliano Gordon, who died in 2002 at the age of 94,
lived a life colored by large forces: immigration, world
war, the Great Depression, and physical affliction--she
contracted Polio at the age of 3 and experienced the ravages
of both alcoholism and dementia. A hard-working single
mother--Gordon’s father died when she was still a girl--Anna
was the personification of the culture of the mid-century
American Catholic working class. Yet, even in the face of
these setbacks, she managed hold down a job, to dress
smartly and raise her daughter on her own, and though she
was never a fan of the arts which so attracted Mary, she
worshiped the beauty in life in her own way, with a
surprising joie de vivre and a beautiful singing voice. Gordon writes about Anna in all of her roles: sister,
breadwinner, woman of faith and single mother. We discover
Anna’s wry and often biting humor, her appreciation of
life’s simple pleasures, her courage in breaking out of the
narrow confines of her birth. Toward the end of Anna’s life,
we watch the author take on all the burdens and blessings of
caring for her mother in old age, beginning even then to
reclaim from memory the vivid woman who helped her sail
forth into her own life. Bringing her exceptional talent for detail, character, and
scene to bear on the life of her mother, Gordon gives us a
deeply felt and powerfully moving book.
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