At thirty-six, she had a marriage that worked, a couple of funny, active kids, and a weekly newspaper column. But, even as a thriving adult, Kelly still saw herself as George Corrigan's daughter. A garrulous Irish-American charmer from Baltimore, George was the center of the ebullient, raucous Corrigan clan. He greeted every day by opening his bedroom window and shouting, "Hello, World!" Suffice it to say, Kelly's was a colorful childhood, just the...

"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Middle Place comes a new memoir that examines the bond--sometimes nourishing, sometimes exasperating, occasionally divine--between mothers and daughters. When Kelly Corrigan was in high school, her mother neatly summarized the family dynamic as "Your father's the glitter but I'm the glue." This meant nothing to Kelly, who left childhood sure that her mom--with her inviolable commandments and proud...