Publisher's Synopsis
Dr. Phil may not approve of the methods that Giulia DaMaglia uses to overcome life's many challenges and may just find her a bit devious. No matter to Giulia! She's been far too busy wearing many, many hats to worry about such things. Among those hats are sewer inspector, nurse, professor, university administrator, grandmother, organist, Girl Scout, and knit-wit. Now, her wildly funny, warmhearted memoir shares a life lived to the fullest. Reflections of an Irish Twin charts her madcap, no-holds-barred journey from reluctant oldest daughter to irreverent grandmother and beyond. Anyone looking for a good laugh and some old-fashioned family spirit will find a perfect match in this delightful book that never takes life too seriously. From the moment she was born, the author casts her fate as an alpha female. Refusing to feed on demand, she may just have opened the door for a little sister Pam to enter the picture and steal the spotlight. From then on, young Giulia learned to protect that same sister, whose judgment was, at best, questionable. Even so, their quick-witted father Carl and beautiful mother Harriet kept family life full of good, clean joy. Throughout the book, she recounts Carl's unflappable disposition in the face of cancer, as well as the family's strength when her sister Pam is suddenly a widow with young children. Her family's philosophical perspective also prepared the author for a life navigating her own considerable challenges, including surviving cancer, as well as host of similarly unexpected circumstances. All the while, life also posed some very curious questions such as: How does one get a baby brother at the age of seventy-two? Why should the presence, or absence, of certain male anatomy dictate where a person can eat or when one can play golf? Giulia wants to know. Other questions the reader will ponder are: Could it be true that a second grader is asked to pluck the hairs from her teacher's chin? How exactly did the dummy's body parts in the nursing school lab go missing? Take a walk in Giulia's light and comfy shoes, and you're sure to laugh a lot, cry a little, and perhaps even get a little hot under the collar. Through it all, Reflections of an Irish Twin will serve up a sense of coming home that is as comforting as warm cookies in the kitchen after a tough day of school. This seriously amusing book will tickle your funny bone while it touches your heart.
