The Escape Artist

Author:	Fremont, Helen
Binding:	Hardcover
List Price:	$28.00
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Additional Info
Overview

ISBN:	9781982113605
Publisher:	Gallery Books
Language:	English
Page Count:	336
Publication Date:	2/11/2020
Size:	8.83" l x 5.01" w x 1.36"
Series:	N/A

Category	Subject
Biography & Autobiography	Personal Memoirs
Family & Relationships	Dysfunctional Families

Helen Fremont writes with wit and candor about growing up in a household held together by a powerful glue: secrets. Her parents, profoundly affected by their memories of the Holocaust, pass on, to both Helen and her older sister, a penchant for keeping their lives neatly, even obsessively compartmentalized, and a zealous determination to protect themselves from what they see as danger from the outside world.

She delves deeply into the family dynamic that produced such a startling devotion to secret keeping, beginning with the painful and unexpected discovery that she has been disinherited in her mother’s will. In scenes that are frank, moving, and often surprisingly funny, Fremont writes about growing up in such an intemperate household, with parents who pretended to be Catholics but were really Jews—survivors of Nazi-occupied Poland. She shares tales of family therapy sessions, disordered eating, her sister’s frequently unhinged meltdowns, and her own romantic misadventures as she tries to sort out her sexual identity.

In a family devoted to hiding the truth, Fremont learns the truth is the one thing that can set you free. Scorching, witty, and ultimately redemptive, The Escape Artist is a powerful contribution to the memoir shelf.