Strangers Tend to Tell Me Things: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Coming Home

Syndicated advice columnist Dickinson (The Mighty Queens of Freeville) shares reminiscences in this authentic and heartfelt story of life in the small village (pop. 520) of Freeville on the outskirts of Ithaca, N.Y. One of four kids, Dickinson was raised on a dairy farm, but when she was 12, her colorful, reckless father lost the property and divorced her mother (who later inherited another home in Freeville). Dickinson writes of her first failed marriage, her life as a single mom (she lived in Washington D.C. but summered with her daughter in Freeville), her early job at NPR, and her eventual shift to the Chicago Tribune’s Ask Amy column. The bulk of the memoir deals with family topics, her midlife search for her own “Mr. Darcy” (who turns out to be a “hunky contractor” named Bruno), coping with the deterioration of her aging mother, and dealing with her profound attachment to people, places, and houses. Each chapter serves as a vignette, and strung together they tell the tale of a “reliable,” practical (she owns just four pair of shoes), immensely loving daughter, wife, and mother, who despite her career success remains down to earth and focused on family. Chapters on surviving her mother’s death and restoring ties with her elderly father are particularly moving. Ask Amy fans will eagerly soak up this intimate memoir, and new readers will feel as if they’ve found a compassionate new friend. (Mar.)