Home, My Story of House and Personal Restoration: A Memoir

In childhood, M.G. adores her old family house as if it were a guardian with heart and soul. After her mother dies, her father soon remarries and sends her brothers and her, one at a time, off to live with older siblings. M.G. buries her affection for that home, along with the family divisions and pain of her mother's departure. She becomes that kid-the one who falls through the cracks, and stumbles into adulthood wrecked, scarred, and undisciplined. All the while, another vintage house, busy protecting an immigrant family in a historic mill community awaits. Years later as an adult, M.G. falls in love with the place, despite its cracked cement, broken stoop, and the chipmunks whizzing in and out from under a door. As M.G. researches her home and repairs its broken parts, she discovers the gradual personal restoration that ensues as a result. braids the history of a New England house and town with teachings of motherhood, loss, and tradition-plus a little romance and humor along the way.