Today I’m excited to share with you a proof announcement for the upcoming release of *My Mother, Munchausen’s and Me by Helen Naylor on the 25th November. It’s a true story of betrayal and a shocking family secret that you won’t believe you are reading! Read on for my review!
Book Description
Ten years ago, Helen Naylor discovered her mother, Elinor, had been faking debilitating illnesses for thirty years. After Elinor’s self-induced death, Helen found her diaries, which Elinor wrote daily for over fifty years. The diaries reveal not only the inner workings of Elinor’s twisted mind and self-delusion but also shocking revelations about Helen’s childhood.
Everything Helen knew about herself and her upbringing was founded on a lie. The unexplained accidents and days spent entirely on her own as a little girl, imagining herself climbing into the loft and disappearing into a different world, tell a story of neglect. As a teenager, her mother’s advice to Helen on her body and mental health speaks of dangerous manipulation.
With Elinor’s behaviour becoming increasingly destructive, and Helen now herself a mother, she was left with a stark choice: to collude with Elinor’s lies or be accused of abandoning her.
What I Thought
It’s been a while since I read a non-fiction book and I absolutely got really stuck into this heart-breaking, honest, and brave account of Helen discovering the truth about her mum and herself. The read is a mix of a stolen childhood, it broke my heart to read about young Helen spending holidays all alone downstairs while her mother was upstairs in bed reading magazines. A story of mental illness and the powerful breaking of the complex relationship.
A young Helen is basically the carer for her mum who feigns chronic fatigue syndrome. Her mum is unable to do daily tasks like housework around the home and thrives on sympathy from others. As I was reading through It was hard to read how someone can suck the life and soul out of a dinner party in more or less an instant once they start talking about their “illness”.
As Helen grows up her suspicions as well as others around her that her mother might be faking it comes apparent. Even the nurse doesn’t believe it! It’s all for show, to gain people’s attention. It doesn’t stop even when Helen is married with her own children. Only the death of her mother set’s her free.
I don’t really know a lot about Munchausen’s but feel that this book gives great insight into how it can affect the family and people around that person. Thank you Helen for sharing your personal story.
Where To Buy
My Mother, Munchausen’s and Me by Helen Naylor is released on 25th November 2021
You can pre-order here at *Amazon
Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you’ve enjoyed this review. You can check out my bookcase of past reviews here.
This really does sound heartbreaking but also a really good book, I would love to read this.
Like you, I don’t often read non fiction, the last one I read was very harrowing, Nine by Gwen Strauss. This book you are reviewing also sounds like a harrowing tale but an interesting one, yet another to add to my tbr pile
A book .I’ll be reading soon – such a complex condition/illness