The Almost Legendary Morris Sisters
A True Story of Family Fiction
(Sprache: Englisch)
A Washington Post best nonfiction book pick of 2021
It is biography as an expression of love. The New York Times
New York Times bestselling author Julie Klam s funny and moving story of the Morris sisters, distant relations with mysterious...
It is biography as an expression of love. The New York Times
New York Times bestselling author Julie Klam s funny and moving story of the Morris sisters, distant relations with mysterious...
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A Washington Post best nonfiction book pick of 2021It is biography as an expression of love. The New York Times
New York Times bestselling author Julie Klam s funny and moving story of the Morris sisters, distant relations with mysterious pasts.
Ever since she was young, Julie Klam has been fascinated by the Morris sisters, cousins of her grandmother. According to family lore, early in the twentieth century the sisters parents decided to move the family from Eastern Europe to Los Angeles so their father could become a movie director. On the way, their pregnant mother went into labor in St. Louis, where the baby was born and where their mother died. The father left the children in an orphanage and promised to send for them when he settled in California a promise he never kept. One of the Morris sisters later became a successful Wall Street trader and advised Franklin Roosevelt. The sisters lived together in New York City, none of them married or had children, and one even had an affair with J. P. Morgan.
The stories of these independent women intrigued Klam, but as she delved into them to learn more, she realized that the tales were almost completely untrue.
The Almost Legendary Morris Sisters is the revealing account of what Klam discovered about her family and herself as she dug into the past. The deeper she went into the lives of the Morris sisters, the slipperier their stories became. And the more questions she had about what actually happened to them, the more her opinion of them evolved.
Part memoir and part confessional, and told with the wit and honesty that are hallmarks of Klam s books, The Almost Legendary Morris Sisters is the fascinating and funny true story of one writer s journey into her family s past, the truths she brings to light, and what she learns about herself along the way.
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OneI'd Like to Introduce My Family
When I was five years old, I noticed that my second toe was longer than my other toes. I noticed this because my grandma Billie, my father's mother, had pointed out how beautiful her own feet were because her toes were "graduated"-they were sized in ascending order. Then she looked at my feet and was silent.
Later, I mentioned to my mother what Grandma Billie had said, and she replied with extraordinary conviction, "People who have a long second toe are descended from royalty." My mother, I realized later, also has a long second toe. We were the Queen and the Princess of the Land of Goofy Feet.
At the time, I was young enough and unworldly enough that I accepted her explanation. And I knew instinctively that it wasn't something I was to talk about with other people; I didn't need to flaunt my superior lineage. I just kept the information in my back pocket, like an undercover detective with a hidden badge. If I needed to reveal it, I could, but mostly it was enough for me to know.
I've never taken a DNA test or any of the other tests available, mostly because I don't really care to know what someone else finds in me. I'm descended from royalty; does anything else really matter?
I'm willing to admit that I might not be Queen Elizabeth's distant cousin, but somewhere inside me that little fact-along with many, many other questionable details I was told about my family growing up-floats around in my personal identity orbit and gives me a gentle pat on the back when life gets tricky. It's okay when my credit card gets declined; I am descended from royalty.
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When a friend of mine found out that her husband had been having affairs for seventeen of the eighteen years they were together-through four pregnancies and years of romantic vacations-she had the most difficult time reconciling the life she thought she'd led with the one she'd actually had. And also, reconciling herself with the fact that if she'd never found out, her life would have felt as it always had. It was the discovery that changed it. When I was younger I told my brothers that when our parents eventually died, no one should tell me for as long as possible. Let me go on and pretend that they just were too busy to pick up the phone. Maybe even record a few messages to leave for me every now and again. I clearly feel as if what I don't know can't make me sad.
It's not that I feel like I need to be protected from bad news . . . well, maybe it is that.
I think about that a lot-about how much of what defines us at various points in our lives is based on what we are told by the people we trust. Growing up, I had friends who told me they had exotic or interesting backgrounds-that they were part Sioux or Cherokee (hello, Cher? though we were just friends in my head), or that their parents once spent the evening in a New York City nightclub with Muhammad Ali and his wife, or that a friend's mother had gone trick-or-treating with Judy Garland when they were kids. And the family lore I grew up around-the strange people my relatives knew or the exciting places they'd visited, some of which turned out to be true, a lot of which turned out to be embellished, most of which was definitely curated-all goes into how we present ourselves, our lives, and our pasts to the world.
As a young kid, I was a so-so athlete (so, so terrible), and I did almost comically poorly in school ("I just don't understand how you can get a negative grade on an exam," my father once said). I wasn't conscious of the fact that other kids in sixth grade showered and washed their hair regularly until a girl in my class said for Valentine's Day she was going to give me a heart-shaped bottle of Head & Shoulders. (She did not.) So while I was often oblivious to the world around me, I knew that secretly
When a friend of mine found out that her husband had been having affairs for seventeen of the eighteen years they were together-through four pregnancies and years of romantic vacations-she had the most difficult time reconciling the life she thought she'd led with the one she'd actually had. And also, reconciling herself with the fact that if she'd never found out, her life would have felt as it always had. It was the discovery that changed it. When I was younger I told my brothers that when our parents eventually died, no one should tell me for as long as possible. Let me go on and pretend that they just were too busy to pick up the phone. Maybe even record a few messages to leave for me every now and again. I clearly feel as if what I don't know can't make me sad.
It's not that I feel like I need to be protected from bad news . . . well, maybe it is that.
I think about that a lot-about how much of what defines us at various points in our lives is based on what we are told by the people we trust. Growing up, I had friends who told me they had exotic or interesting backgrounds-that they were part Sioux or Cherokee (hello, Cher? though we were just friends in my head), or that their parents once spent the evening in a New York City nightclub with Muhammad Ali and his wife, or that a friend's mother had gone trick-or-treating with Judy Garland when they were kids. And the family lore I grew up around-the strange people my relatives knew or the exciting places they'd visited, some of which turned out to be true, a lot of which turned out to be embellished, most of which was definitely curated-all goes into how we present ourselves, our lives, and our pasts to the world.
As a young kid, I was a so-so athlete (so, so terrible), and I did almost comically poorly in school ("I just don't understand how you can get a negative grade on an exam," my father once said). I wasn't conscious of the fact that other kids in sixth grade showered and washed their hair regularly until a girl in my class said for Valentine's Day she was going to give me a heart-shaped bottle of Head & Shoulders. (She did not.) So while I was often oblivious to the world around me, I knew that secretly
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Autoren-Porträt von Julie Klam
Julie Klam is the author of the New York Times bestselling You Had Me at Woof, Love at First Bark, Friendkeeping, Please Excuse My Daughter, and The Stars in Our Eyes. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, People, and other publications. She lives in New York City with her family.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Julie Klam
- 2022, 288 Seiten, Maße: 13,6 x 20,5 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: Riverhead Books
- ISBN-10: 0735216436
- ISBN-13: 9780735216433
- Erscheinungsdatum: 04.08.2022
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
Praise for The Almost Legendary Morris Sisters:Lovely As the rumors and myths are pruned and the gaps filled in, the Morris sisters emerge and differentiate themselves, and Klam, movingly, is there to meet them What elevates it beyond a glorified fact-checking assignment is Klam s palpable yearning she wants to know who these women were, what they went through, how it shaped them. It is biography as an expression of love. The New York Times
A divertingly chatty yet thought-provoking exploration of how the family stories we don t know can define us just as much as the ones we think we do .With genealogical quests all the rage, Klam s book serves as a cautionary tale about the obsessional nature of such a search and the bracing truths that may lie buried beneath the family lore. The Washington Post
Such an enjoyable read an engrossing search for truth and how learning that truth might affect identity Some truly astonishing discoveries about the sisters await the reader. Minneapolis Star Tribune
A funny true story of one writer's journey into her family's past, the truths she brings to light, and what she learns about herself along the way. Pure Wow
In The Almost Legendary Morris Sisters, Klam reveals how digging into our ancestries teaches valuable lessons about not just our relatives, but ourselves. Real Simple
An entertaining read that offers a substantial meditation on the meaning of family and what our ancestors mean to us, even when we can t get as close as we d like to their stories. Bookpage
Julie Klam opens the vault of her family history to tell the stories of four amazing women. The Morris sisters lived with pluck, passion, and vision at a time when women were encouraged to live lives of quiet desperation. In learning about them, Julie acquired new perspectives on work, family, and love. This is a life-changing primer for those looking to live out loud. Adriana Trigiani, bestselling
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author of The Shoemaker's Wife
In a world where more and more people think a DNA test will solve all their family mysteries, Julie Klam reminds us that investigating our personal myths takes resourcefulness, curiosity and, yes, bravery. Because as she deconstructs the legends about the Morris sisters, Klam also has to challenge the legends she has manufactured for herself. A moving, insightful family detective story that will leave readers wondering if they dare to examine their own lives and the stories on which they rest. Laura Lippman, New York Times-bestselling author of Lady in the Lake
This is the America I want to see the one where four orphaned immigrant sisters can transform themselves into chain-smoking millionaires. Julie Klam's trademark wit and generosity make this family history a balm for the soul. Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk
Within the first few pages of Julie Klam s memoir, I, too, became obsessed with the mysterious Morris sisters, and thrilled at every new insight into their fiercely nonconformist lives. Klam is a witty and engaging guide, following the trail from a small Romanian town to an orphanage in St. Louis to a bohemian townhouse in the West Village. Part history, part confessional, and wholly entertaining, this book explores the nature of mythology and how unanswered questions leave an indelible mark on our lives. Abbott Kahler, author (as Karen Abbott) of The Ghosts of Eden Park
In a world where more and more people think a DNA test will solve all their family mysteries, Julie Klam reminds us that investigating our personal myths takes resourcefulness, curiosity and, yes, bravery. Because as she deconstructs the legends about the Morris sisters, Klam also has to challenge the legends she has manufactured for herself. A moving, insightful family detective story that will leave readers wondering if they dare to examine their own lives and the stories on which they rest. Laura Lippman, New York Times-bestselling author of Lady in the Lake
This is the America I want to see the one where four orphaned immigrant sisters can transform themselves into chain-smoking millionaires. Julie Klam's trademark wit and generosity make this family history a balm for the soul. Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk
Within the first few pages of Julie Klam s memoir, I, too, became obsessed with the mysterious Morris sisters, and thrilled at every new insight into their fiercely nonconformist lives. Klam is a witty and engaging guide, following the trail from a small Romanian town to an orphanage in St. Louis to a bohemian townhouse in the West Village. Part history, part confessional, and wholly entertaining, this book explores the nature of mythology and how unanswered questions leave an indelible mark on our lives. Abbott Kahler, author (as Karen Abbott) of The Ghosts of Eden Park
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