Review and Winner of MY RUBY SLIPPERS: THE ROAD BACK TO KANSAS

In MY RUBY SLIPPERS, Tracy Seeley faces her mortality as she chronicles her physical and emotional journey from her adult home in San Francisco to Kansas, where she mostly grew up as a child. By visiting the many places she lived during her formative years, she rekindles memories, discovers family secrets and experiences the liberating power of forgiveness. In the process she finds the meaning of home.

At the age of eighteen, Tracy left for college in Texas, where she worked at “shucking Kansas off like the skin of a cicada.” Years later, after graduate school and teaching at Yale, her children grown, she lives in San Francisco, where she has “joined the land of the lotus eaters, intoxicated by pleasure, forgetful of our pasts in other lands.”

Then her parents, long divorced, die two weeks apart. In her grief, Tracy pulls out her baby book with a list of thirteen addresses recorded by her mother--places where her family lived before Tracy turned nine. For her, those thirteen addresses take “on the power of a spell” to carry her back to Kansas. More than two years later, after completing radiation treatments for cancer and being abandoned by her significant other, she grabs her thirteen addresses and takes off on the road towards Kansas.

Reading Seeley’s memoir is like stepping back in time and getting to know a young girl, her family, their dreams, and the Kansas of her childhood home. MY RUBY SLIPPERS: THE ROAD BACK TO KANSAS is an elegantly written story, filled with warmth and wisdom. Seeley's thoughtful and thought-provoking memoir is part of the American Lives Series, published by the University of Nebraska Press, edited by Tobias Wolff. A lovely book and a wonderful story.

MY RUBY SLIPPERS: THE ROAD BACK TO KANSAS

Tracy Seeley

University of Nebraska Press

ISBN: 978-0-8032-3010-1

$15.95

www.bisonbooks.com

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It was such an honor to have Tracy Seeley as my guest blogger earlier this week, as part of the WOW! Women on Writing Guest Author program. I thank Tracy for generously sharing her time and wisdom with everyone who visited during her post. I also thank all those who left a comment or a question for Tracy.

When I e-mailed Tracy yesterday and asked her to select the name of a winner of her memoir, she lamented that she could only pick one name. So, just beneath my review above, I've added some information about where visitors can purchase a copy of MY RUBY SLIPPERS. Another option is to check with your local library. If they don't have one on hand, ask them to order a copy. You'll be glad you did!

Now, for the name of the winner. The name selected by Tracy to win a copy of MY RUBY SLIPPERS is

CLARA GILLOW CLARK

Clara, please e-mail Tracy your mailing address at seeleyt (at) usfca.edu and remind her you were the winner she selected to win a copy of her memoir on Donna's Book Pub.

Thanks again to Tracy and all my faithful visitors who once again prove how generous and encouraging writers are.