Grabbing at Water: A Mother--Daughter Memoir

The relationship between mother and daughter is an incomparable blend of affection comfort rebellion pain frustration and joy. In Grabbing at Water mother and daughter Joan and Maddy Lambur explore their extraordinary bond as they recount the events of Maddys youth and young adulthood -- the successes and struggles clashes and reconciliations -- telling each story from their very different and equally hilarious points of view. As Joan evolves from a broke newly single mother living in a Toronto fixer-upper to a high-flying executive she watches Maddy change too from a gregarious little girl who struggles in school to a free-spirited confident teen. Together they navigate academic crises and health scares wayward pets and romantic missteps. Joan watches with pride and terror as her daughter asserts her independence for the first time -- and then reasserts it again and again. Maddy bright and willful strives to live by her own rules -- even if that means joyriding in her mothers fancy company car or getting her picture on the front page of the local newspaper at a protest to legalize marijuana. Yet every challenge seemingly designed to test the limits of her mothers love only serves to prove that there are no limits. Honest heartfelt and witty the stories in this unique memoir illuminate and celebrate perhaps the most defining relationship we will ever know -- one that even at its most difficult is deeply rewarding and utterly irreplaceable.