NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A memoir from the author of The Middle
Place about mothers and daughters--a bond that can be nourishing,
exasperating, and occasionally divine.
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 savings shot, she had a choice: get a job or go home. 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, 10,000 miles from the house where she was raised, 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.
Praise for Glitter and Glue
"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
"Kelly Corrigan's thoughtful and beautifully rendered meditation invites
readers to reflect on their own launchings and homecomings. I accepted
the invitation and learned things about myself. You will, too. Isn't
that why we read?"--Wally Lamb, New York Times bestselling author of
We Are Water
"Kelly Corrigan is no stranger to mining the depths of her heart. . . .
Through her own experience of caring for children, she begins, for the
first time, to appreciate the complex woman who raised her."--O: The
Oprah Magazine
