{"product_id":"the-memory-palace-9781439183311","title":"The Memory Palace","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 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 familys capacity for forgiveness  People have abandoned their loved ones for much less than youve been through  Mira Bartk is told at her mothers 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 protg 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 escalatedNorma 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 artistexploring the ancient romance of Florence  the eerie mysticism of northern Norway  and the raw desert of Israelthe haunting memories of her mother were never far away.  Then one day  a debilitating car accident changes Miras life forever. Struggling to recover from a traumatic brain injury  she was confronted with a need to recontextualize her lifeshe 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 Normas life  the storage unit brought back a flood of previous memories that Mira had thought were lost to her forever.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45953289322549,"sku":"ByrdShop_1439183317","price":36.08,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781439183311.jpg?v=1788184203","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-memory-palace-9781439183311","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}