Wednesday, August 6, 2008

My Mother's House: A Memoir

At age 12 Alexa Wolf won first place for her age group in a poetry contest sponsored by the International Women's League for Peace and Freedom. Ten years later she won a fellowship to the MacDowell Colony. She is currently working on her Writers Certificate at the UCLA Writers Extension Program.

After eight years spent writing My Mother's House: A Memoir, Alexa's book was published! I'm happy to showcase it in our Readers Circle for you to read. The following is an excerpt from the book:

My Mother's House: A Memoir
By Alexa Wolf
Copyright 2007 by Alexa Wolf.

The Night It Rained

I think of the times my mother might have died and didn't: when she dropped unbatlike from the steel bar across the top of her bedroom door and hit her shoulder on the floor; when the neighbor caught her as she lost her balance on the small dirt path to her walkway, halting her backward fall toward the sidewalk cement; when the drive-by shooting missed her; when she escaped the couple who wanted her to get into their truck; when her car broke down, as it seemed to do every other month and always at night, and countless, kind people stopped to help her and make sure she got home safely.

Then there was the night it rained. At a familiar intersection on her way home, Mother made a right turn and the steering wheel stuck. "The wheels only turned right!" she narrated to me on the phone the moment she got home. "The car just went around and around in the middle of the intersection - and the rain was pouring - the night was just black - for almost ten minutes."

"What did you do?" My mouth dry, I pictured the surrealistic scene she described. This was exactly the kind of thing I feared for her.

Read more...


After reading this story, please share your thoughts and comments with the author and fellow MBM members below.

Would you like to learn more about Alexa and her mom? Consider purchasing My Mother's House: A Memoir for yourself.

How about sharing a story from your life depicting the relationship between you and your mother? I'd love the opportunity to share it with the MBM community here and discussing it with you. Submitting your life stories for online publication is easy...and free. Try it...you'll be glad you did.

1 comment:

Carrie said...

Thank you Alexa for allowing me the opportunity to share a portion of your new book at MemoirsByMe.com.

My grandmother passed away several years ago and I am humbled by the sacrifices my sister made to care for her in her later years. As my grandmother's mental state continued to deteriorate, she eventually ended up in the care of my loving aunt (one of her daughters). Thankfully her family was in a position to care for her themselves. I can't imagine the anguish of having to put a loved one in a care facility when faced with no other alternatives.

Thank you for investing the time and emotional energy to share your story...even to the point of seeing it published. It must have been hard, though rewarding in the end. Congratulations on your finished product.