Description
Book SynopsisFrom bestselling children's author Marianne Richmond comes a powerful memoir about overcoming a mother's emotional neglect and finding the courage to reclaim the story of your life.
In her beautiful memoir, Richmond bravely finds her way through a legacy of emotional trauma, pulling us into her courageous, tender heart while bringing us closer to our owna stunning story.Kelly McDaniel, LPC, author of Mother Hunger
At nine years old, Marianne Richmond's life is upended when she collapses on her kitchen floor with full-body convulsions. Pinched nerve, says the ER doctor, a baffling explanation. But when one episode becomes many, it's clear something is wrong. Afraid to be at school, in her body and in her life, Marianne desperately hopes for help and healing. But her emotionally unavailable motherstill reeling from her own past traumarefuses medication on Marianne''s behalf, preferring to try prayer and homeopathy.
At age 18, a full-body seizure in Marianne's dorm room leads her to a diagnosis, medication, andat long lastneurological intervention. Physically, Marianne feels fixed, but emotional healing proves more elusive. In the years to come, Marianne becomes a parent herself, and writes a new story for her life. She authors children's books that touch millions of lives, each of them celebrating a mother's unconditional love for her children. A love her own heart still longs to know. When her mother becomes ill, Marianne has a choice to make: will she be present for the mother who rarely felt present to her?
If You Were My Daughter is a story of learning to hear your own voice, of one daughter's return to wholeness, and ultimately, a story of accepting that, despite all hope and longing, a mother's best I could can still fall far too short. Most of all, Marianne Richmond illuminates how the stories we're born into shape the ones we tell about ourselvesand reminds us that we have the powerful permission to develop a new relationship with what is difficult in our lives, to fully choose and embody who we are meant to be.
