WHEN WE WERE THE KENNEDYS A Memoir from Mexico, Maine

Monica Wood's memoir beautifully and evocatively captures a moment in time--a Maine mill town in the 1960s, when the paper mill was still everything, providing employment that sustained families and omnipresent in the rhythms of everyday life. The immediacy of Wood's storytelling is reflected in her open and candid narration, and her family's overwhelming grief is palpable as they cope with the sudden death of her father at age 57. Wood's lyrical and poetic writing clearly draws her mother and her siblings, their apartment and neighborhood, the nuns who teach at their Catholic school, and their community of immigrant families. Her narration is warm with these remembrances, and she occasionally slips into an appropriately Maine accent when quoting family members. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2016]