George's Daughter

<p><strong>A complex story of contradiction disillusion and love George's Daughter is a memoir/essay about a daughter's attempt to live in accordance with her own values in spite of conflicts with her controlling father whom she nonetheless adores. Ultimately her defiance of him--by refusing to end a romantic relationship of which he does not approve--leads to emotionally catastrophic consequences for them both. These themes will resonate with anyone whose family has come undone when a member refuses to adhere to conventional expectations whether around gender race class religion politics or culture.</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>The story originates in the neighborhood of Crown Heights Brooklyn after World War II. During the author's childhood Crown Heights was reeling from the traumas of displaced persons survivors of the Nazi concentration camps and those who had lost entire families to the war. Decades later the neighborhood was again traumatized by tensions discriminations and disruptions caused by opposing racial and religious politics that continue to this day.</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>George's Daughter illuminates how the decision to live one's life as one must may cause enormous psychic rupture: A person might lose but ultimately find again both their family and their sense of self in the process.</strong></p>