They left us everything a memoir

"A warm, heartfelt memoir of family, loss, and a house jam-packed with decades of goods and memories. After almost twenty years of caring for elderly parents--first for their senile father, and then for their cantankerous ninety-three-year old mother--author Plum Johnson and her three younger b...

Full description

Main Author: Johnson, Plum (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2016.
Edition: First G.P. Putnam's Sons edition.
Subjects:
Summary: "A warm, heartfelt memoir of family, loss, and a house jam-packed with decades of goods and memories. After almost twenty years of caring for elderly parents--first for their senile father, and then for their cantankerous ninety-three-year old mother--author Plum Johnson and her three younger brothers have finally fallen to their middle-aged knees with conflicted feelings of grief and relief. Now they must empty and sell the beloved family home, twenty-three rooms bulging with history, antiques, and oxygen tanks. Plum thought: How tough will that be? I know how to buy garbage bags. But the task turns out to be much harder and more rewarding than she ever imagined. Items from childhood trigger difficult memories of her eccentric family growing up in the 1950s and '60s, but unearthing new facts about her parents helps her reconcile those relationships, with a more accepting perspective about who they were and what they valued. They Left Us Everything is a funny, touching memoir about the importance of preserving family history to make sense of the past, and nurturing family bonds to safeguard the future"--Provided by publisher.
Item Description: "First edition published by Penguin Random House Canada, 2014"--Title page verso.
Physical Description: 279 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN: 9780399184093
0399184090
Author Notes:

Plum Johnson was born in Virginia. She studied education at Wheelock College in Boston and theatre at York University in Toronto. In 1983, she established her own company, KidsCanada Publishing, to publish parenting publications such as the periodical Kids Toronto and children's and family service directories in both Toronto and Vancouver. In 2002, she launched Help¿s Here!, a similar resource publication for senior citizens and caregivers. In 2015 she won the RBC Taylor Prize for nonfiction for her memoir They Left Us Everything. This book tells the story of Johnson's relationship with her parents and the task of clearing their house after they died.

(Bowker Author Biography)