Explore the poignant and critically acclaimed memoir, “Fragments of My Father” by Sam Mills, a deeply moving exploration of family, mental illness, and caregiving. Shortlisted for the Barbellion Prize and a New Statesman Book of the Year, this intimate narrative delves into Mills’ experience as her father’s primary carer after her mother’s death, revealing the challenges and unexpected beauty of their evolving relationship. Mills interweaves her personal story with insightful analyses of the lives of Leonard Woolf and F. Scott Fitzgerald, examining their roles as caregivers to Virginia Woolf and Zelda Fitzgerald, respectively. By juxtaposing her experiences with these literary figures, Mills crafts a nuanced perspective on the complexities of love, duty, and personal sacrifice. The book goes beyond personal narrative, raising important questions about the societal perception of mental health and the often-invisible burdens carried by caregivers. Expect an emotional read that lingers long after you finish it. If you appreciate honest and thought-provoking memoirs, “Fragments of My Father” is a must-read.
Fragments of my Father
13,82 $
In stock
A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEARIn the vein of the Costa-winning Dadland, with the biographical elements of H is for Hawk, The Fragments of my Father is a powerful and poignant memoir about parents and children, freedom and responsibility, madness and creativity and what it means to be a carer.SHORTLISTED FOR THE BARBELLION PRIZEMy life had been suspended, as though I had inhaled and was still waiting to let out that gasp of breath. I set aside my dreams for a future time when life might be normal again. But that night, on my mothers birthday, as I sat and watched the sky turn from blue to black, I wondered for the first time if it ever would There were holes in Sam Millss life when she was growing up times when her dad was just absent, for reasons she didnt understand. As she grew older, she began to make up stories about the periods when he wasnt around: that hed been abducted, spirited away and held captive by a mysterious tribe who lived at the bottom of the garden. The truth that he suffers from a rare form of paranoid schizophrenia, and was hospitalised intermittently slowly came into focus, and that focus became pin-sharp in 2012, when Sams mother died and Sam was left as his primary carer.In this powerful, poignant memoir Sam triangulates her own experience with the stories of two other carers, one she admires and one, on some days, she fears she might become: Leonard Woolf, husband to Virginia and F Scott Fitzgerald, husband to Zelda, and a man whose personality made him ill-equipped in a great many ways to be a carer for his troubled wife.A mesmerising blend of literary biography and memoir The Fragments of My Father is a compelling and moving account of what it means to be a carer.
