Mother Once Removed: a Memoir

By Ellen Tovatt Leary

Growing up in Greenwich Village in the 1940s, the shy and introverted only-child of a glamorous, eccentric divorc?e, was a lifelong challenge and ironically the catalyst that propelled me to go on the professional stage."When I was five years old, I awoke, one night, from a bad dream and wandered down the long dark hall of our Charles Street apartment to the living room. As my eyes adjusted to the bright light, I could see my mother stretched out on an afghan-covered couch, posing for an artist. She was nude. Even at five I did not want a nude mommy. I wanted a mommy who wore an apron (at the very least) and was there when you came home from school. My mother was among the original single working parents. For a diffident child it was hard to be the daughter of such a flamboyant mother, growing up in the Greenwich Village of the 1940s. It was, I believe, one of the reasons that I chose to go on the stage. I suppose you could make an argument for the fact that I became what I became, because she was who she was."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1517007259
• ISBN13: 9781517007256
• Release Date: August 2015
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 204 Pages
• Weight: 0.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.0"