The Things Between Us

A Memoir

Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book The Things Between Us by Lee Montgomery, Free Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Lee Montgomery ISBN: 9781416538127
Publisher: Free Press Publication: August 9, 2006
Imprint: Free Press Language: English
Author: Lee Montgomery
ISBN: 9781416538127
Publisher: Free Press
Publication: August 9, 2006
Imprint: Free Press
Language: English

The Montgomerys of Framingham, Massachusetts, are among the last of a dying breed -- New England WASPs who effortlessly combine repression, flamboyant eccentricity, and alcoholism. Fragmented by drink and dysfunction, the family had avoided assembling under one roof for more than a decade. But when Big Dad, the patriarch, was diagnosed with stomach cancer, the siblings all returned to their childhood home, Four Corner Farm, to help their parents navigate the specialists, treatment options, pain management, and, most difficult of all, their own anguish. The Things Between Us is Lee Montgomery's alternately wrenching and riotous story of her family reuniting as one of their own is dying.

Even in healthy times, Big Dad moved carefully through life, taking responsibility for the farm, the cars, the house, and his wife. Meanwhile the irrepressible Mumzy drank her first gin each day at 8:45 a.m. and spent her time singing jazz standards and reliving the glory days when she rescued horses from the now defunct hunt club. Prickly and proud, the two tried always to keep their chins up. But Big Dad's cancer rattled their formidable denial, and their habitual coping mechanisms took on heightened meaning when he became sick and the family reconvened. In Big Dad's last months, Montgomery accompanied him on his daily walks as he bade farewell to the places where their lives had unfolded; she and her mother sang old songs, and eventually composed their own jazzy musical called "If You're Dying of Cancer, Do You Want Us to Tell You?"

Montgomery's stunning memoir vividly evokes the often unspoken bonds between family members -- bonds made of memory, love, and disappointment. Heartbreaking, lyrical, and often hilarious, The Things Between Us hums with a sense of wonder as the author discovers anew the most familiar people in her life, herself among them.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Montgomerys of Framingham, Massachusetts, are among the last of a dying breed -- New England WASPs who effortlessly combine repression, flamboyant eccentricity, and alcoholism. Fragmented by drink and dysfunction, the family had avoided assembling under one roof for more than a decade. But when Big Dad, the patriarch, was diagnosed with stomach cancer, the siblings all returned to their childhood home, Four Corner Farm, to help their parents navigate the specialists, treatment options, pain management, and, most difficult of all, their own anguish. The Things Between Us is Lee Montgomery's alternately wrenching and riotous story of her family reuniting as one of their own is dying.

Even in healthy times, Big Dad moved carefully through life, taking responsibility for the farm, the cars, the house, and his wife. Meanwhile the irrepressible Mumzy drank her first gin each day at 8:45 a.m. and spent her time singing jazz standards and reliving the glory days when she rescued horses from the now defunct hunt club. Prickly and proud, the two tried always to keep their chins up. But Big Dad's cancer rattled their formidable denial, and their habitual coping mechanisms took on heightened meaning when he became sick and the family reconvened. In Big Dad's last months, Montgomery accompanied him on his daily walks as he bade farewell to the places where their lives had unfolded; she and her mother sang old songs, and eventually composed their own jazzy musical called "If You're Dying of Cancer, Do You Want Us to Tell You?"

Montgomery's stunning memoir vividly evokes the often unspoken bonds between family members -- bonds made of memory, love, and disappointment. Heartbreaking, lyrical, and often hilarious, The Things Between Us hums with a sense of wonder as the author discovers anew the most familiar people in her life, herself among them.

More books from Free Press

Cover of the book She Walks in Shadows by Lee Montgomery
Cover of the book Strategy and Power in Russia 1600-1914 by Lee Montgomery
Cover of the book The Whole Life Prostate Book by Lee Montgomery
Cover of the book No Place to Hide by Lee Montgomery
Cover of the book Ike's Gamble by Lee Montgomery
Cover of the book And One More Thing Before You Go... by Lee Montgomery
Cover of the book La Dieta de 17 Dias by Lee Montgomery
Cover of the book Sophia Tolstoy by Lee Montgomery
Cover of the book A Thousand Lives by Lee Montgomery
Cover of the book SuperCooperators by Lee Montgomery
Cover of the book Lost Paradise by Lee Montgomery
Cover of the book Marx and the Proletariat by Lee Montgomery
Cover of the book Childhood Under Siege by Lee Montgomery
Cover of the book The Great Penguin Rescue by Lee Montgomery
Cover of the book The Theory Of Social And Economic Organization by Lee Montgomery
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy