In a stirring, powerful memoir of growing up poor in the South, the author recalls her life as one of eight children being raised by an impoverished but creative woman. 40,000 first printing.

Change Me into Zeus's Daughter

Biographies & Memoirs

Moss, Barbara Robinette

Arts & Literature

Scribner

Change Me into Zeus's Daughter is a haunting and ultimately triumphant memoir about growing up poor and undaunted in the South. With an unflinching voice, Barbara Robinette Moss chronicles her family's chaotic, impoverished survival in the red-clay hills of Alabama. A wild-eyed, alcoholic father and a humble, heroic mother along with a shanty full of rambunctious brothers and sisters fill her life to the brim with stories that are gripping, tender, and funny. Moss's early fascination with art coincides with her desire to transform her "twisted mummy face" which grew askew due to malnutrition and lack of medical care. Gazing at the stars on a clear Alabama night, she wishes to be the "goddess of beauty, much-loved daughter of Zeus" Against all odds, the image of herself surfaces at last as she learns to believe in the beauty she brings forth from inside.

Change Me into Zeus's Daughter: A Memoir

Parenting & Relationships

Touchtstone

From the award-winning author of Change Me into Zeus's Daughter comes this compelling memoir about a single mother determined to break the patterns that she has been taught. Barbara Robinette Moss grew up in the red clay hills of Alabama, the fourth of eight children, in a childhood defined by close sibling alliances, staggering poverty, and uncommon abuse at the hands of her wild-eyed, charismatic, alcoholic father. In Fierce, Moss looks at what happens when a child of such a family grows up. At once poetic and plainspoken, Moss, a "powerful writer" (Chicago Tribune), paints a vivid, moving portrait of her persistent quest to reinvent her life and rebel against the rural indigence, addiction, and broken dreams she inherited from her parents. With warmth, insight, and candor, Moss tells the poignant story of finally leaving everything she knew in Alabama to fulfill her ambition to become an artist. It is an odyssey filled with gritty improvisation (bringing her son, Jason, to her night job to sleep on the floor), bittersweet pragmatism (filling her purse on a dinner date with shrimp, rolls, and even a doily, to bring home to a waiting eight-year-old), and staunch conviction and pride (chasing a mail carrier down the street to defend her use of food stamps). As with many other children of alcoholics, the legacy of her father's alcoholism catches up with Moss, and an abusive relationship -- an inheritance and addiction of its own sort -- threatens to destroy all that she has accomplished. But as Moss learns to cope with her anger and pain, parenthood helps her discover true strength. Ultimately, Fierce is a warm, honest, and triumphant story, from a writer celebrated for her Southern lyricism, about a woman determined to make it on her own -- to shrug off the handicaps of her childhood and raise her son responsibly and well.

Fierce: A Memoir

Softcover edition never read, brand new condition, very very slight cover edgewear. A memoir both absorbing and disturbing to an unthinkable family poverty. A story of family survival that is funny and scary at the same time.

Change Me Into Zeus' Daughter

Loess Hills Books

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Books by Moss, Barbara Robinette

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Moss, Barbara Robinette. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Change Me into Zeus's Daughter

Change Me into Zeus's Daughter: A Memoir

Fierce: A Memoir

Change Me Into Zeus' Daughter