Unraveling Anne is a brilliant book about Laurel Saville's mother, Anne Ford, who initially is found dead in her burnt-out home in in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California.  The authorities rule the crime as a homocide to the shocked Laurel.  Remember, that this book is biographical which increases the shock at the grisly details provided to Laurel and the reader.  Through careful research and personal memories, Laurel Saville describesevents and people from her childhood. 

Initially her tone is accusatory.  She blames her mother for all the ills in her life. To put her feelings simply, her mother was a bad and negligent individual who was given to drink and carnal relationships with various partners. To a degree, she is right and the reader sympathizes with the child Laurel.  Her parents were divorced; her father  is a vague figure in little Laurel's life.  She remembers love-ins in the park and sleep-ins at her mother's home from which he had to hide of flee to her grandmother's house.  Her brothers and she fought back, but with little avail.

She relates memories of her mother as a brilliant but unrequited artist.  Anne not only drew pictures and painted, she designed clothes for the wealthy of Rodeo Drive and Sunset Boulevard.  Laurel then recalls her mothers decline into alcohol and degradation.  The woman descends further into the world of schizophrenia and homelessness.


The reader wonders  if  the child will emerge victorious as an adult.  She empathizes with the women in the Ford family. This book is wonderful.  Everyone who had a mother should read it!