A Bittersweet Goodnight is a the journey of a 50 year relationship with my step-mother which was often tense, sometimes filled with laughter and blind to the love and friendship we didn't know we shared.
With no biological children of her own, I was left to decide how June would spend the final years of her life as she fell into the depths of dementia. Years before, she designated the cherished keepsakes I'd grown to love, to others. Next to my name on her list was 'box of family and personal papers'. I sadly sent away her possessions believing this tattered old shirt box couldn't possible hold anything of importance.
The box contained cards and letters from friends and family, many sent after my father's funeral 25 years earlier. The story told within cast me as a child in the center of a divorce, pushed me to the outside of a new love affair and showed me the path to the woman I am today.
A Bittersweet Goodnight is The Glass Castle meets Cinderella. It will appeal to many baby boomers caught in the middle of their changing lives while caring for aging parents. It will also appeal to the step community which often struggles with their own sense of belonging inside divided families.
