The World Against Her Skin, my mother's life in a novel
An “incredibly compelling book.” —The US Review of Books
“A rousing portrait of a brave, imperfect woman.... A stunning drama that delves into one woman’s bid for romantic satisfaction, even at the price of desolation.” —BookLife
“In the beautiful and achingly sad The World Against Her Skin, John Thorndike tells the story of his mother's life, marriages, and addictions as a novel, real events mixed with imagined scenes and dialogue, to great—and devastating—effect. —IndieReader
You can probably guess
which sister she is
Virginia and Joe Thorndike have been married for twenty-two years, and now she's in love with a surgeon thirteen years her junior. She leaves her husband and flies to Miami to start living with Rich Villamano, but there he tells her he has changed his mind and they must go their own ways. In an instant their four-year affair is over. She takes off in his car, heading north with no luggage, no hope or destination. She buys a bottle of gin and drinks it straight. She abandons the car, flies to New York and takes an airport hotel room. She has no home and nowhere to go.
In this biographical novel, much is remembered and much imagined. Emotional flashbacks from Virginia’s youth expose the sexual abuse by her father, an affair with her high school diving coach and her marriage to a jealous first husband. Then, after her divorce from Joe Thorndike, she fights to hold onto her sons. When sober, she can rise to the occasion. Other times not.
“John Thorndike is scary. He writes about things other writers don’t even want to think about, and does so in an understated, elegant prose that creeps up on a body and makes a mind go places it would otherwise avoid. In The World Against Her Skin, he takes us into his mother’s addictions and sexuality, and treats those delicate subjects with insight and tenderness.” —Paul Kafka-Gibbons, author of Love. Enter and Dupont Circle
And here, some short videos about the book:
--Book Trailer https://youtu.be/QEXc9VqO99g
--What My Mother Told Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8AVj-eY7B4
--Author's Note https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_Di8XYMJe0
