The Mistress's Daughter: A Memoir

The Mistress's Daughter: A Memoir

by A . M . Homes (Author)

Synopsis

On the day that Homes was born in 1961, she was given up for adoption. Her birth parents were a twenty-two year old woman and an older married man with whom she was having an affair. Thirty years later, out of the blue, Homes was contacted by a lawyer on behalf of her birth mother, and they began to correspond; her biological father contacted her soon after. These two individuals and their effect on the adult Homes are strange and unexpected, and the story spirals into something utterly raw and hilarious, heartbreaking and absurd. Along the way, Homes describes the clash between her childhood fantasies of her birth parents and the disappointing reality. She writes about the experience of experiencing biological resemblance for the first time, in "My Father's Ass", and the addictiveness of the genealogical research she embarks on. She reflects on the significance of DNA testing, and having two mothers and two fathers. She unearths profound truths about her family and herself. Finally, she writes very movingly about her own baby daughter, and the way she has recently helped to mend Homes' fractured life.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 256
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Granta Books
Published: 04 Jun 2007

ISBN 10: 1862079307
ISBN 13: 9781862079304

Media Reviews
* 'Very few writers push the envelope with such style and confidence' Mark Haddon * 'There have been very few women writers like Homes. This prose has teeth' Zadie Smith * 'A deeply moral chronicler of her contemporary America' Ali Smith, Guardian
Author Bio
AM Homes is the author of five novels, In a Country of Mothers, The End of Alice, Music for Torching and Jack, and two collections of short stories, The Safety of Objects and Things You Should Know, all published by Granta. She lives in New York City.