false 368584 2 Valerie Steiker's poignant memoir limns with love the indelible impact of her glamorous, adored mother, Gisèle, and her painful struggle to come to terms with Gisèle's premature death from cancer in 1988, when Valerie was only 20. The book's marvelous opening pages portray a beautiful, privileged woman who can't do her own hair and throws the entire household into disarray when dressing to go out with her husband. Swathed in gowns, bedecked in jewels, and always shod in high heels (even on her canvas boat shoes), Gisèle is the epitome of a wealthy, sophisticated New Yorker. She's also a Belgian-born Jew who spent the war years in hiding with her mother after her father was deported to Auschwitz; the magical cocoon Gisèle spins for her daughters in their East Side apartment is a creation of her will and imagination, her passionate desire to give them the childhood she was denied. Steiker's luminous prose, vividly evoking Gisèle's allure, makes palpable the void left by her loss. Only at the end of a five-year romance launched just weeks after Gisèle's death does the author realize, "I had been desperately trying to hold on to my mother ... at the expense of my growing more fully into myself." The chapters about Valerie's postcollege years as a young writer and editor in Manhattan, though well-written and intelligent, aren't quite as compelling as the ones that tenderly chronicle her mother's life. This is Gisèle's book, and it's clear her daughter wouldn't have wanted it any other way. <I>--Wendy Smith</I> 358569 2002 The Leopard Hat: A Daughter's Story total:45|5:8|4:17|3:16|2:3|1:1| 45 163 66 11 4 0 false false Fri Oct 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 14:21:22 -0700 2009 Mon Nov 09 17:10:52 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 15 06:58:16 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 09 06:51:35 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 05 10:17:18 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 09 19:12:04 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 03 11:56:17 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 14:55:30 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue May 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 19 05:37:20 -0700 2008 Wed May 27 14:01:15 -0700 2009 A lovely counterpoint to all the hard knock life memoirs currently filling up the shelves. The book shines when the author is describing...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 22 17:52:31 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 28 11:42:01 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Oct 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 09 04:18:15 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 16 03:59:41 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jul 07 06:40:51 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 07 06:50:34 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Tue Jul 01 10:39:58 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 01 10:41:21 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sat Nov 08 15:28:31 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 08 15:29:24 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Tue Jul 01 08:44:26 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 16 11:04:02 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Oct 13 10:07:13 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 13 10:07:13 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Oct 07 13:36:51 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 13:36:51 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Sep 14 08:17:09 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 08:17:09 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Sep 08 08:25:34 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 13:24:32 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 08:25:34 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Aug 25 12:17:37 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 12:17:37 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Aug 20 16:37:47 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 16:37:47 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Aug 03 15:49:49 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 15:49:49 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 11:30:48 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 01 11:30:48 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jul 30 06:07:56 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 06:08:01 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=964394