Glitter and Glue

Corrigan (The Middle Place) looks back on a transformative period in her life in the early 1990s. As a college grad determined to see the world and find adventure far from the safety net of her Philadelphia-based family (fans of her previous memoir have already met her outgoing dad, “Greenie,” and her more stoic mom Mary, the “glitter and glue”), she travels to Australia where she soon runs out of money and takes a temporary position as a nanny to two young children whose mother has passed away. Though disappointed to find herself in a mundane job in the suburbs, Corrigan is quickly drawn into the struggle of a family trying to carry on in the absence of its most “irreplaceable” member. As widower John Tanner, his young children, and his stepson Evan wind their way into young Kelly’s heart, she finds herself thinking more and more of her own mother’s voice, of her solid commitment to her children, husband, and faith, and of the lessons one can learn from ordinary life, “which are big, hard beautiful things.” Initially believing that “things happen when you leave the house,” the young Corrigan soon finds that life’s greatest dramas and deepest messages often unfold within the quiet underpinnings of relationships. The author’s fans and newcomers alike will welcome this story that probes the depths of mother-daughter bonds (Feb.)