White Walls
CBC Books | CBC | Posted: March 9, 2017 8:27 PM | Last Updated: April 11, 2017
Judy Batalion
Judy Batalion grew up in a house filled with endless piles of junk and layers of crumbs and dust; suffocated by tuna fish cans, old papers and magazines, swivel chairs, tea bags, clocks, cameras, printers, VHS tapes, ballpoint pens... all obsessively gathered and stored by her hoarder mother. The first chance she had, Batalion escaped the clutter to create a new identity — one made of order, regimen and clean, white walls. Until, one day, she found herself enmeshed in life's biggest chaos: motherhood. Told with heartbreaking honesty and humour, this is Judy's poignant account of her trials negotiating the messiness of motherhood and the indelible marks that mothers and daughters make on each other's lives. (From Penguin Publishing Group)
From the book
All I wanted to do was go home.
To be picked up from school by a mom who played doubles at the Hampstead tennis club, stuffed into OshKosh winter couture, and escorted into a luxury-car-pool that would whisk me westward to the airy suburbs with shiny built-ins and lemon-lime scents. To do my homework, watch Video Hits, and eat SpaghettiOs and thinly sliced carrots before being bathed in bubbles and tucked into my pink trundle bed that hosted matching throw pillows with embroidered JUDYS.
From White Walls by Judy Batalion ©2016. Published by Penguin Publishing Group.