Williamsburg Regional Library

Don't you ever, my mother and her secret son, Mary Carter Bishop

eng

autobiography

illustrations

no index present

non fiction

Don't you ever

1042160724

Mary Carter Bishop

my mother and her secret son

While applying for a passport as an adult, Mary Carter Bishop made a shocking discovery: she had a secret half brother. Her mother told Mary Carter that the abandoned boy was a "youthful mistake" from an encounter with a married man. Nine years later, Mary Carter tracked Ronnie down at the barbershop where he worked and found a near-broken man -- someone kind and happy to meet her, but someone deeply and irreversibly damaged by a life of neglect and abuse at the hands of an uncaring system. He was also disfigured due to a rare condition that would eventually kill him. Digging deep into her family's lives for understanding, Mary Carter unfolds a sweeping narrative of religious intolerance, poverty, fear, ambition, class, and social expectations. A riveting memoir about a family haunted by a shameful secret, Don't You Ever is a powerful story of a woman's search for her long-hidden sibling and of the factors that profoundly impact our individual destinies."--Adapted from book jacket

Part I: Two funerals. Losing the brother I hardly knew ; Losing the mother I thought I knew -- Part II: The parents who raised me. My mother: gentle hands and foul moods ; My father: joy, wonder, and self-hate -- Part III: Our world. The kingdom of the rich ; The people in the big house -- Part IV: The lie. Original shame ; On her own ; Polly and Roy ; Freaky little bastard ; Truth at the kitchen stove -- Part V: Finding and losing Ronnie. I walk into his barbershop ; We get acquainted ; What was wrong ; Trying to help ; Losses, gains, losses -- Part VI: Learning still. Unearthing Ronnie ; Our family shrivels -- Part VII: A finer sifting. I draw closer ; Walking with them

adult