Five Thimbles

One mother, five kids, 25 houses. DeMarini's fascinating childhood memoir is one of survival in east Tennessee between 1952 and 1970. It is the firsthand, true account of five siblings living with none of the things most other kids had, facing one eviction after another. It also details how the author's mother nurtured one child through serious illness and secured the author's own well-being after she was abducted as a teenager. 226 pp.