The “sandwich years” are those in which author Alana Kirk found herself caring for her three young daughters and her mother, who suffered a stroke, and had been the greatest support to Kirk throughout her life.
It’s a story that is playing out right now in the lives of many readers and may be stretching to decades rather than years.
Before marriage and children, Kirk embodied the high-achieving career woman. Then her experience of motherhood opened up a whole new aspect of herself, and she gradually discovered the similarities between herself and her mother.
The book, previously published as Daughter, Mother, Me, is full of the intimate little acts which create the bond between mother and daughter: holding hands throughout all sorts of situations, in sickness and in health; the shared habit of "putting a face on", facing the day with the armour of lipstick and nail varnish. It's a warm, familiar and touching memoir, ends sadly but hopefully and is written with great honesty and love.
