The Difficult Girl: a memoir

by Helen Morse

THE AUTHOR’S father was the editor-in-chief of Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia when he met her mother at a burlesque club. She was 20 years younger and a headliner there. They soon married and went on to have three daughters, moving to Palm Beach and buying a house that once belonged to Robert “Believe It or Not” Ripley. The family appeared to have it all in the famous Florida town, but the reality was very different. Behind closed doors, the Morse family was troubled. The Difficult Girl describes a family damaged by past wounds and ongoing misfortune, impossible to escape despite their circumstances. Mental illness and utter heartbreak were an ever-looming specter. The book ends in tragedy but with a bittersweet resolution.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir

396 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 8, 2022

About the author

Helen Morse was born in New York City in 1954. She attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY and then Kirkland College in Clinton, NY, where she majored in fine art photography, graduating in 1976. Aside from writing, Morse has been exhibiting her photographs and artwork both nationally and internationally for over 40 years. Morse now lives on Plum Island in Newbury, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Liz Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morse's account of her childhood is riveting. Brought up in great wealth by parents who lacked the capacity for affection, Morse and her two younger sisters relied on the care of their loving nanny, and, in Morse's case, the support of a boarding school education, to teach them how to navigate the world. But those early scars don't fade away, and all three girls suffered damage as a result. Morse does an impressive job of describing the details of her upbringing without blaming her parents, who suffered their own childhood traumas, and her capacity for forgiveness is admirable.

[Roberta Lerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow was my first thought when I reached the last page of this extraordinary memoir. With The Difficult Girl, author Helen Morse takes her readers on a journey through her childhood and the difficult, dysfunctional-beyond-measure family who peopled it. It’s disturbing, often strange, most definitely tragic, and, in the end, powerful in the courage shown by herself as she navigates her survival into adulthood with her heart and soul still intact.

I had trouble getting this story out of my thoughts for many days after I finished it. My mother used to love telling me that being rich does not necessarily equate with guaranteed happiness. This tale shows this and more with no frills and no sensationalism—just pure, authentic, masterful storytelling at its best. Despite the heart-wrenching tenor of a life filled too often with neglect and emotional pain given out by parents incapable of showing love, its themes are about seeing people for who they are and what they are capable of, strength, forgiveness, and the power of kindness. Riveting is another word I would use to describe this book. This is a five-star-plus read that you don’t want to miss. Congratulations to this author on a most beautifully written

[Kathleen roy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Woe is me.......

It took a lot for me to get through this book. Most families deal with issues, many with worse, and without the money.

[Sue Levine · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary book

Life can be beautiful and tragic and spectacular and heartbreaking. Helen Morse shows us the full spectrum of her family’s life in her gorgeous prose that has the reader captivated from the first paragraph and never lets you go. A gorgeous picture of privilege can look very different when viewed from within. Throughout the memoir, Ms. Morse’s deep love of nature treats the reader to stunning descriptions that portray her surroundings with word paintings. This is a story that is so often unbearably sad, yet it is written with such gentle kindness and a deep love for her flawed and unique family. You will not regret reading this wonderful memoir.

[Bebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The honesty and transparency the author exhibited in this book is something on which I continue to reflect even days after finishing the book. This story hooked me so I could barely put it down. The view into life in Palm Beach and those wealthy enough to live there is captivating. The pain and dysfunction that the author and her sisters endured is heartbreaking but shows that money cannot buy happiness. Her strength to revisit her past in order to write this book is inspiring. I highly recommend this book.

[Rosemary Becerra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this book, so I never got to get to the "difficult" part. I was so put off by the author's whining about being filthy rich and privileged that I just was fed up. I am sure rich people have the same problems as everyone else, but the book was focused too much on descriptions of their lavish living style. I read a wonderful memoir called Wild Game and I thought this might be in the same vein. This bok was self published and I know why. It is too self indulgent. My apologies to those who liked it, I just like authors who have a literary leaning.

[Elaine Sorsby · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a casual reader, I’m fairly lukewarm about this book. I’m certain it was beneficial to the author to write it and, perhaps, to a certain audience, to read it. Her description of her sister’s battle with mental illness is so sad and, unfortunately, not uncommon. I’m glad the author wrote the book for herself, but I wouldn’t really recommend to others.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m just not sure what the point of this book was. Like I said above, this seems like a self-published assignment where you fill out essays about people in your life. As in: here’s a chapter about my mother. Here’s one about my father. This is my nanny. Etc. She keeps hinting that some awful thing is going to happen to her and even the title suggests hardship, but other than being teased at school, and a bout with panic attacks, she really didn’t have that bad of a life. I have a couple chapters to go, and I have a feeling one of her family members may die towards the end, but that family member is really not talked about much except in the beginning of the book. I guess her biggest trouble was that she was too rich and her nanny was more affectionate than her parents. Poor thing.

Perhaps this would have been interesting to members of her own family, or her governess, had she lived to be able to read it. 1.5 stars.

[Lauren Polson · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Difficult Girl" paints a picture of the lifestyle I fear many rich children endure-one of endless material possessions but uninvolved parents. All three girls are desperate for their parents attention but as the story unfolds, they never receive it. Indeed , it would be this lack of affection and attention that helped cause the inevitable to unravel. "The Difficult Girl" is the heartbreaking tale of 3 girls, struggling to find and accept any love that's shown them. For one of them, this sense of rejection takes a heartbreaking turn.

While the story was compelling, I did struggle at times with the timeline of events. In the beginning the author seemed to hop around to much, leading to some confusion, but ultimately I was able to finish, and ended with nothing more than a strong sense of admiration for the author and all she did for her sisters.

[Nila Novotny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a memoir of one of the three daughters of a wealthy family. Father was Jewish and mother was Italian so they didn't quite fit into the society of Palm Beach. The parents weren't loving and they were raised by their nanny "Greg" who did everything for them and was the parent in every way. Needless to say there were many difficulties with mother dedicating everything she had to the father. All three of the girls had individual life struggles. The story goes on to follow them to adulthood and takes interesting turns for all of them. It was an interesting read.

[Shawn Mecham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading The Difficult Girl: it's non-fiction and in the vein of The Glass Castle and Educated. It's a well-written book about the vicissitudes of three daughters in a wealthy and very toxic family. I loved it although I didn't love the sadness and great challenges the girls had in trying to grow up well despite the issues and problems of their parents. I definitely recommend this book.

[Jeanchicago · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every Family Is Unhappy In Its Own Way

True stories are always the best and Helen Morse tells her family tale very well.
Easy to read, well composed, Helen expresses the story of growing up with her sisters in a dysfunctional family.
How she remained stable,strong and supportive is a tale well worth reading.

[Trish Grell · Rating 2 out of 5]

My opinion

I found it slow reading. I would skip 3 or 4 pages at a time and miss nothing. Not for me

[Michelle Meade · Rating 4 out of 5]

tragic memoir

I didn’t expect the memoir to be so sad. It’s a good reminder that we never know what goes on behind closed doors.

[Vickie · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who was the Difficult Child? Based on reviews, I bought this book. Thought it was overrated.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great Memoir!

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Rhonda Erway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very descriptive. Well written.

[Ferna R Geer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult read

In my opinion, the difficult child was their Mother.. self centered and self serving, jealous and petty.
The story goes quite long, with nothing really different from what a very wealthy family goes through. You can read about these families all the time.. When you have money, you can pick what direction you want to go and just as easily go a different way ..
Helen is portrayed as a saint, picking up the pieces of her family's downward spiral, propping up whats left. Her own life seems mundane and there is not much for us to see of her personal life when she gets older.
She was afforded the best medical care and schools when she was growing up.. She ends up being everyone's caretaker at the end.... predictable ...