Publisher's Synopsis
"Born to shanty Irish on one side and Park Avenue privilege on the other, Laura navigates a turbulent childhood filled with the alcohol-fueled abuse of her volatile father and her mother's excessive drinking. As the middle child of three girls, she assigns herself the role of protector of her mother, who dies when Laura is only thirteen, leaving her heartbroken and adrift. Insecure, anxious, and fearful, she tries drugs, random sex, and a sequence of lovers. She also pursues painting, a field in which she shows some talent. But nothing seems to assuage her emptiness and her sense of loss. Eventually, she marries a caring man and has a loving daughter, but it is only at the end of her life and by way of an unusual and unexpected turn of events that she is able finally to make peace with herself, to let go of the feeling that she never really said goodbye to her beloved mother and to appreciate that though we work at love and acceptance,
