Veronica's Grave: A Daughter's Memoir - Paperback

by Barbara Bracht Donsky (Author)

2017 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award: Silver for Memoir 2017 National Indie Excellence Awards: Finalist 2017 Independent Press Award: Distinguished Favorite for Memoir 2016 Beverly Hills Book Awards: Memoir Finalist 2016 Readers' Favorite: Silver Medal for Non-fiction Memoir New York Public Library Top Pick Summer 2017
When Barbara Bracht's mother disappears, she is left a confused child whose blue-collar father is intent upon erasing any memory of her mother. Forced to keep the secret of her mother's existence from her younger brother, Barbara struggles to keep from being crushed under the weight of family secrets as she comes of age and tries to educate herself, despite her father's stance against women's education. The story is not only of loss and resilience, but one showing the power of literature--from Little Orphan Annie to Prince Valiant to the incomparable Nancy Drew--to offer hope where there is little. Told with true literary sensibility, this captivating memoir asks us to consider what it is that parents owe their children, and how far a child need go to make things right for her family.

Author Biography

Barbara Bracht Donsky, a reading specialist with a former private practice for children in Oyster Bay, New York, served for many years as president and capital campaign coordinator of the Boys and Girls Club of Oyster Bay-East Norwich. A magna cum laude graduate of Hunter College, with an MS from C. W. Post, Long Island University and an EdD from Hofstra University, her publications include Trends in Written Composition in Elementary Schools in the United States, 1890 -1960, named dissertation of the year at Hofstra University, and articles in educational journals. Her short story, "What's the Matter with Harry?" was also published in a The Naples Review in Florida. She lives with her husband in New York, where she writes a weekly blog, Desperately Seeking Paris.