Nobody Home

Nobody Home is an intimate memoir of quest and compassion. Through a series of vignettes Jacqueline Masumian paints a portrait of her troubled mother, a recalcitrant member of the WASP elite who, with a glass of bourbon always at hand, provides her children with a unique, haphazard brand of nurturing. Though wealthy, educated, and artfully witty, the woman has been deeply scarred by her past. This book reveals the mother’s story in the context of Jacqueline’s own, as she forges her way through adolescence, careers, marriage and divorce, seeking to comprehend the causes of her mother’s ragged moods and heavy drinking. Then the revelation of a shocking family secret provides a possible explanation but, in its tragedy, raises further unanswerable questions. This heart-warming narrative, peppered with touches of humor, reveals how little we know of our mothers, how resentments blur our vision and prevent us from having a true picture of them. In her quest to understand, Jacqueline discovers that her mother, though long gone, is still deep within her. She learns that by forgiving and embracing her mother’s failings, she is able to acknowledge and accept her own.