"Stunningly vivid in its detail, heartbreaking in its emotional vision, this book rings long and true."

- Kim Barnes

In this ensemble of interrelated essays, writer and poet Rebecca McClanahan explores the familiar rituals, the shared dreams, and the guarded secrets that tie family together as she unravels the mysteries behind familial relationships. She also considers the meaning of losses--the loss of a child, a family home, and a family pet, and a lost chance at motherhood. Partly fashioned around the lines of the folk tune "The Riddle Song," The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings" captures the palpable bonds that exist between mothers, daughters, fathers, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and grandparents.
Published by The University of Georgia Press 978-0-8203-4593-2 (paperback $19.95) • 0-8203-2353-5 (hardback)

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selection from the riddle song

Dependent

...Despite what my military I.D. card proclaimed, my laminated face and name stamped with the word "dependent," I was determined never to become one of those quietly nervous women I saw in the laundromat of the apartment complex….This thing I was living was my life…