LIVE THROUGH THIS A Mother's Memoir of Runaway Daughters and Reclaimed Love

When her two oldest of four daughters decide to live on the streets, Debra Gwartney has to find a way to take control. Joyce Bean's narration portrays Gwartney as a woman on the edge of unrestrained emotions. Bean appropriately expresses the layers of torment the author faces—her guilt and remorse over her divorce and how it affected her children, her conflict over the foster parents who both run her children's lives and deal with their difficult behavior, and her mix of caring and resentment as the young teens cut themselves, steal, and avoid her love. Bean's tight, strained narration corresponds to the story's tension. Her delivery of the author's candid reflections makes listeners hope for the family's resolution. S.W. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2009]