The loss of family is a theme uniting the three recent memoirs we’ll hear in this session. At the age of twenty-six, Jessica Berger Gross made the courageous decision to cut ties with her family, which was publicly perfect but secretly abusive. She chronicles the events leading up to her difficult choice, as well as the inspiring new beginning it brought about, in Estranged: Leaving Family and Finding Home. Similarly, in her memoir The Book of Separation, the novelist Tova Mirvis recounts the frightening, exhilarating first year following her decision to leave not only her marriage but also her lifelong Orthodox Jewish faith that had previously guided all her decisions. Finally, sociologist Mindy Fried writes thoughtfully and compassionately about serving as her elderly father’s long-distance caregiver in her memoir Caring for Red, which tells her father’s colorful life story and also offers fellow caregivers strength and practical advice. The host for this session of heartfelt memoir readings is BBF board member Christine Mastrangelo.
