In the tradition of "The Glass Castle," two sisters confront
schizophrenia in this poignant literary memoir about family and
mental illness. Through stunning prose and original art, "The
Memory Palace" captures the love between mother and daughter, the
complex meaning of truth, and family's capacity for forgiveness.
"People have abandoned their loved ones for much less than you've
been through," Mira Bartok is told at her mother's memorial
service. It is a poignant observation about the relationship
between Mira, her sister, and their mentally ill mother. Before she
was struck with schizophrenia at the age of nineteen, beautiful
piano protege Norma Herr had been the most vibrant personality in
the room. She loved her daughters and did her best to raise them
well, but as her mental state deteriorated, Norma spoke less about
Chopin and more about Nazis and her fear that her daughters would
be kidnapped, murdered, or raped.
When the girls left for college, the harassment escalated--Norma
called them obsessively, appeared at their apartments or jobs,
threatened to kill herself if they did not return home. After a
traumatic encounter, Mira and her sister were left with no choice
but to change their names and sever all contact with Norma in order
to stay safe. But while Mira pursued her career as an
artist--exploring the ancient romance of Florence, the eerie
mysticism of northern Norway, and the raw desert of Israel--the
haunting memories of her mother were never far away.
Then one day, a debilitating car accident changes Mira's life
forever. Struggling to recover from a traumatic brain injury, she
was confronted with a need to recontextualize her life--she had to
relearn how to paint, read, and interact with the outside world. In
her search for a way back to her lost self, Mira reached out to the
homeless shelter where she believed her mother was living and
discovered that Norma was dying.
Mira and her sister traveled to Cleveland, where they shared an
extraordinary reconciliation with their mother that none of them
had thought possible. At the hospital, Mira discovered a set of
keys that opened a storage unit Norma had been keeping for
seventeen years. Filled with family photos, childhood toys, and
ephemera from Norma's life, the storage unit brought back a flood
of previous memories that Mira had thought were lost to her
forever.
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