The Good Daughter: Secrets, Life Stories, and Healing

The Good Daughter details a journey that most of us will travel as care givers or recipients of that care. In this case, an only child is responsible for a father with Alzheimer’s and a demanding mother who competes for attention. Add to this a low-budget nursing home with one decrepit elevator, a staff as international as the daughter’s foreign students, and residents that share their provocative questions with her. The daughter reverts to her childhood pattern of trying to please her perfectionist, self-centered mom while at the same time struggling to maintain her own family life and meet the needs of the ESL school she directs. Life and death decisions are interspersed with moments of joy and laughter provided by her job, her family, and her father’s sparks of memory. When Mama shares secrets from the past, she opens the door to a better relationship through telling the rest of her life story. The result? This book, a closer relationship with her daughter, and the daughter’s growing understanding of her own life. Added Bonus: A Selection of Questions for Life Review and A Discussion Guide for Book Groups