“Wishing for Snow sits on the short shelf of books that I
will never part with. Minrose Gwin writes with a poet’s lyricism, a historian’s
scrupulousness, a maverick’s ingenuity, and a daughter’s immense love. A wholly
original and transcendent memoir.”
--Sandra Schofield, author of Occasions of Sin: A Memoir
“Astonishingly honest, tender, and brave, Minrose Gwin’s luminous memoir of her mother’s troubled life should be required reading for anyone struggling to forgive a difficult parent. Wishing for Snow is a marvel of empathy and insight. With lyrical intelligence and clarity, Gwin distinguishes her mother as a vulnerable, sensitive, and gifted human being apart from a daughter’s crushed expectations.”
--Marianne Gingher, author of Adventures in Pen Land: One Writer’s Journey from Inklings to Ink
“The mother-daughter tie is perhaps the most intimate any of us will ever experience. Stories of rage and laughter, the songs of survival and destruction are passed through the birth cord and from the mother’s milk. Wishing for Snow is a testament to a difficult and disturbing relationship between a mother and daughter, both poets attempting to sing in a difficult age. This gift of a book made me question: how do any of us become poets? Here is one very particular and moving answer.”
--Joy Harjo, author of How We Became Human: Collected Poems
“An eloquent memoir of a daughter seeking a clear view of her complicated, crazy mother and coming to grips with her…. Gwin’s mother is very much alive in this lyrical book. She haunts the pages with her own words, shakes webs from Gwin’s closeted memory, and stirs up the dust of a life lived intensely, madly, and often painfully…. This is definitely a real-life story we all need to hear.”
--Booklist
“Wishing for Snow addresses the complicated nuances of love without ever descending to sugarcoated sentimentalism—and without allowing anyone (herself included) to be free from guilt, implication, or accountability. Gwin’s memoir brings her . . . into conversation with authors from Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor to Doris Betts, Gail Godwin, Janisse Ray, and Dorothy Allison. Her book is one that demands to be read.”
--Southern Scribe
“At turns, Gwin’s memoir is sad, hilarious, frightening, rambling, and positively operatic…suffused with both Gwin’s wish to understand her mother and the knowledge that fulfilling such a wish is likely as impossible as snow that sticks in Mississippi at Christmas.”
--Mississippi Magazine
“Gwin describes [anger] with honesty, conveying the complexity of simultaneously loving and being furious at the mother whose mental illness presented her with so many seemingly insoluble dilemmas . . .. The mother is marvelously present throughout the book.”
--Women’s Review of Books
“Gwin’s effort to reconcile her own identity with her mother’s life and death is tender and haunting—a compelling and satisfying read.”
--Gulf Coast
--Sandra Schofield, author of Occasions of Sin: A Memoir
“Astonishingly honest, tender, and brave, Minrose Gwin’s luminous memoir of her mother’s troubled life should be required reading for anyone struggling to forgive a difficult parent. Wishing for Snow is a marvel of empathy and insight. With lyrical intelligence and clarity, Gwin distinguishes her mother as a vulnerable, sensitive, and gifted human being apart from a daughter’s crushed expectations.”
--Marianne Gingher, author of Adventures in Pen Land: One Writer’s Journey from Inklings to Ink
“The mother-daughter tie is perhaps the most intimate any of us will ever experience. Stories of rage and laughter, the songs of survival and destruction are passed through the birth cord and from the mother’s milk. Wishing for Snow is a testament to a difficult and disturbing relationship between a mother and daughter, both poets attempting to sing in a difficult age. This gift of a book made me question: how do any of us become poets? Here is one very particular and moving answer.”
--Joy Harjo, author of How We Became Human: Collected Poems
“An eloquent memoir of a daughter seeking a clear view of her complicated, crazy mother and coming to grips with her…. Gwin’s mother is very much alive in this lyrical book. She haunts the pages with her own words, shakes webs from Gwin’s closeted memory, and stirs up the dust of a life lived intensely, madly, and often painfully…. This is definitely a real-life story we all need to hear.”
--Booklist
“Wishing for Snow addresses the complicated nuances of love without ever descending to sugarcoated sentimentalism—and without allowing anyone (herself included) to be free from guilt, implication, or accountability. Gwin’s memoir brings her . . . into conversation with authors from Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor to Doris Betts, Gail Godwin, Janisse Ray, and Dorothy Allison. Her book is one that demands to be read.”
--Southern Scribe
“At turns, Gwin’s memoir is sad, hilarious, frightening, rambling, and positively operatic…suffused with both Gwin’s wish to understand her mother and the knowledge that fulfilling such a wish is likely as impossible as snow that sticks in Mississippi at Christmas.”
--Mississippi Magazine
“Gwin describes [anger] with honesty, conveying the complexity of simultaneously loving and being furious at the mother whose mental illness presented her with so many seemingly insoluble dilemmas . . .. The mother is marvelously present throughout the book.”
--Women’s Review of Books
“Gwin’s effort to reconcile her own identity with her mother’s life and death is tender and haunting—a compelling and satisfying read.”
--Gulf Coast
