An Affair with My Mother

A Story of Adoption, Secrecy and Love

Nonfiction, Family & Relationships, Adoption, Family Relationships, Motherhood, Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book An Affair with My Mother by Caitríona Palmer, Penguin Books Ltd
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Caitríona Palmer ISBN: 9780241971727
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd Publication: March 3, 2016
Imprint: Penguin Language: English
Author: Caitríona Palmer
ISBN: 9780241971727
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Publication: March 3, 2016
Imprint: Penguin
Language: English

'Incredibly moving' --Anne Enright, winner of the Man Booker Prize

An Affair with My Mother by Caitriona Palmer: a moving and gripping story of love, denial and a daughter's quest for the truth.

Caitriona Palmer had a happy childhood in Dublin, raised by loving adoptive parents. But when she was in her late twenties, she realized that she had a strong need to know the woman who had given birth to her. She was able to locate her birth mother, Sarah, and they developed a strong attachment.

But Sarah set one painful condition to this joyous new relationship: she wished to keep it - to keep Caitriona - secret from her family, from her friends, from everyone.

Who was Sarah, and why did she want to preserve a decades-old secret? An Affair with My Mother tells the story of Caitriona's quest to answer these questions, and of the intense, furtive 'affair' she and her mother conducted in carefully chosen locations around Dublin. By turns heartwarming and heartbreaking, An Affair with My Mother is a searing portrait of the social and familial forces that left Sarah - and so many other unwed Irish mothers of her generation - frightened, traumatized and bereft. It is also a beautifully written account of a remarkable relationship.

'Caitriona Palmer has called out the false shame of her origins, with a kind of anguished courage that is incredibly moving. An Affair With My Mother is a forensic account of how it feels to be - in the interests of Catholic "respectability" - excluded from the facts of your own life. In its commitment to family love, to joy and truth, it is a gift.' Anne Enright, winner of the Man Booker Prize

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

'Incredibly moving' --Anne Enright, winner of the Man Booker Prize

An Affair with My Mother by Caitriona Palmer: a moving and gripping story of love, denial and a daughter's quest for the truth.

Caitriona Palmer had a happy childhood in Dublin, raised by loving adoptive parents. But when she was in her late twenties, she realized that she had a strong need to know the woman who had given birth to her. She was able to locate her birth mother, Sarah, and they developed a strong attachment.

But Sarah set one painful condition to this joyous new relationship: she wished to keep it - to keep Caitriona - secret from her family, from her friends, from everyone.

Who was Sarah, and why did she want to preserve a decades-old secret? An Affair with My Mother tells the story of Caitriona's quest to answer these questions, and of the intense, furtive 'affair' she and her mother conducted in carefully chosen locations around Dublin. By turns heartwarming and heartbreaking, An Affair with My Mother is a searing portrait of the social and familial forces that left Sarah - and so many other unwed Irish mothers of her generation - frightened, traumatized and bereft. It is also a beautifully written account of a remarkable relationship.

'Caitriona Palmer has called out the false shame of her origins, with a kind of anguished courage that is incredibly moving. An Affair With My Mother is a forensic account of how it feels to be - in the interests of Catholic "respectability" - excluded from the facts of your own life. In its commitment to family love, to joy and truth, it is a gift.' Anne Enright, winner of the Man Booker Prize

More books from Penguin Books Ltd

Cover of the book The Ring of Water (Young Samurai, Book 5) by Caitríona Palmer
Cover of the book The Masque of the Red Death by Caitríona Palmer
Cover of the book Whatever Happened to Margo? by Caitríona Palmer
Cover of the book The Paw House by Caitríona Palmer
Cover of the book Commit! by Caitríona Palmer
Cover of the book Lifers by Caitríona Palmer
Cover of the book The Wonderful World of Ladybird Books for Grown-Ups by Caitríona Palmer
Cover of the book The Quiet Spectacular by Caitríona Palmer
Cover of the book The Untouchables by Caitríona Palmer
Cover of the book Idylls of the King by Caitríona Palmer
Cover of the book Early Socratic Dialogues by Caitríona Palmer
Cover of the book 2-Power: The Korski Code by Caitríona Palmer
Cover of the book On Solitude by Caitríona Palmer
Cover of the book Silas Marner by Caitríona Palmer
Cover of the book An Essay on Typography by Caitríona Palmer
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy