The author was born in Brooklyn, New York, near the start of World War II. During the first few years of her life she moved from place to place with her mother and older brother, eventually arriving in Portland, Maine, where the family lived out the duration of the war. Her mother struggled to keep the family together, and her grandparents, aunts, and uncles did their best to help care for the children during the dangerous and difficult war years.Uncommon women held this family together through three generations, nurturing the values that are the touchstone bringing them full circle. World War II, a father’s POW experience, life in the suburbs, and the social unrest of the1950s are woven together in a poignant memoir set in the complex and explosive mid-century. Read why a missing father’s behavior brought anger and confusion to a small child, and how this anger finally turned to forgiveness.