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A Memoir
William Morrow
April 2007
On Sale: April 10, 2007
352 pages
ISBN: 006124659X
EAN: 9780061246593
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Memoir
The story of a remarkable woman's rise out of the
foster-care system to attain the American dream—and of the
unlikely series of women who lifted her up in marvelous and
distinctive ways Born as a ward of the state of Maine—the child of an
unmarried Yankee blueblood mother and an unknown black
father—Victoria Rowell beat the odds. Unlike so many other
children who fall through the cracks of our overburdened
foster-care system, her experience was nothing short of
miraculous, thanks to several extraordinary women who
stepped forward to love, nurture, guide, teach, and
challenge her to become the accomplished actress,
philanthropist, and mother that she is today. Rowell spent her first weeks of life as a boarder infant
before being placed with a Caucasian foster family. Although
her stay lasted for only two years, at this critical stage
Rowell was given a foundation of love by the first of what
would be an amazing array of women, each of whom presented
herself for different purposes at every dramatic turn of
Rowell's life. In this deeply touching memoir, Rowell pays tribute to her
personal champions: the mothers, grandmothers, aunts,
mentors, teachers, and sisters who each have fascinating
stories to tell. Among them are Agatha Armstead, Rowell's
longest-term foster mother, a black Bostonian on whose rural
Maine farm Rowell's fire to reach for greatness was lit;
Esther Brooks, a Paris-trained prima ballerina, Rowell's
first mentor at the Cambridge School of Ballet; Rosa Turner,
a Boston inner-city fosterer who taught Rowell lessons of
independence; Sylvia Silverman, a mother and teacher whose
home in a well-kept middle-class suburban neighborhood
prepared Rowell for her transition out of foster care and
into New York City's wild worlds of ballet and acting and
adulthood. In spite of support from individuals and agencies, Rowell
nonetheless carried the burden of loneliness and anxiety,
common to most foster children, particularly those "orphans
of the living" who are never adopted. Heroically overcoming
those obstacles, Rowell also reaches a moment when she can
embrace her biological mother, Dorothy, and, most important,
accept herself. Ultimately, The Women Who Raised Me is a story that belongs
to each of us as it shines a glowing light on the
transformational power of mentoring, love, art, and womanhood.
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