My Mama's Waltz

"I loved my mom very much. I also hated her." The confusion and pain experienced by daughters of alcoholic mothers remains a somewhat taboo subject, but is thoroughly explored in this fascinating and inspiring book by Eleanor Agnew and Sharon Robideaux. The two authors come from entirely different backgrounds: one is the daughter of an educated East Coast professional family; the other, from a family of poverty-stricken, uneducated Southerners. What they have in common is their childhood with alcoholic mothers, their consequent suffering of mental and physical abuse, and their struggle with the need to protect, keep secrets, and survive. Agnew and Robideaux gathered the stories in My Mama's Waltz from more than 200 other daughters of alcoholic mothers, and the book brings with it the force of truth in numbers. Though all the tales in this compassionate and important book ring with clarity, it is the personal stories of Agnew and Robideaux that most strongly resonate with anguish, and, eventually, hope. --Ericka Lutz