If You Were My Daughter

From bestselling childrens author Marianne Richmond comes a powerful memoir about overcoming a mothers emotional neglect and finding the courage to reclaim the story of your life. In her beautiful memoir, Richmond bravely finds her way through a legacy of emotional trauma, pulling us into her courageous, tender heart while bringing us closer to our owna stunning story. -- Kelly McDaniel, author of Mother Hunger At nine years old, Marianne Richmonds life is upended when she collapses on her kitchen floor with full-body convulsions. Pinched nerve, says the ER doctor, a baffling explanation. But when one episode becomes many, its clear something is wrong. Afraid to be at school, in her body and in her life, Marianne Richmond desperately hopes for help and healing. But her emotionally unavailable mother still reeling from her own past trauma refuses medication on Marianne's behalf, preferring to try prayer and homeopathy. At age 18, a full-body seizure in Mariannes dorm room leads her to a diagnosis, medication, andat long lastneurological intervention. Physically, Marianne feels fixed, but emotional healing proves more elusive. In the years to come, Marianne becomes a parent herself, and writes a new story for her life. She authors childrens books that touch millions of lives, each of them celebrating a mothers unconditional love for her children. A love her own heart still longs to know. When her mother becomes ill, Marianne has a choice to make: will she be present for the mother who rarely felt present to her? If You Were My Daughter is a story of learning to hear your own voice, of one daughters return to wholeness, and ultimately, a story of accepting that, despite all hope and longing, a mothers best I could can still fall far too short. Most of all, Marianne Richmond illuminates how the stories were born into shape the ones we tell about ourselvesand reminds us that we have the powerful permission to develop a new relationship with what is difficult in our lives, to fully choose and embody who we are meant to be.