Most memoirs speak of family, innocence lost, secrets hidden and later unearthed—or of discoveries that can heal as well as scar. Loving Emma is such a story. It will appeal to all of us who have been a part of a complicated family, who have had to reach into ourselves for the strength and courage to rise to the challenges that face us.
Loving Emma is a rich and candid account of one woman’s struggle to be a parent. About to turn fifty, she is asked to take in and raise her partner Gemma’s six-year-old niece. Unwilling and resentful of the task at the start, the author ultimately triumphs over adversity—and tells her tale with tenderness, humor, and blunt honesty. It is also the story of how women nurture children in a culture that is not always supportive, but in a community that always is. Carol A. Ortlip handles the topics of midlife crises, substance abuse, and problems of child-rearing with great aplomb.
Carol A. Ortlip, a special education teacher, has held a variety of jobs, from crab-fisher in Alaska to horse-drawn cab driver in Manhattan. She is the author of We Became Like a Hand: A Story of Five Sisters (2002), a family memoir of sisterhood. She lives near Brattleboro, Vermont.