Don't Say a Word

A Daughter's Two Cents

By: Elizabeth Roper Marcus

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Paperback | 11 May 2021

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Edna and Leo, a perpetually warring, tyrannical pair in their 80s, begin wintering In Mexico, where they abandon their usual prudence to embrace adventure and a bevy of sketchy new friends. Soon, Edna adopts a pair of shyster builders whom she trusts over her own architect-daughter Elizabeth, and a farcical house results. Blithely indifferent to the calamities that result, the pair refuse all help from their too-compliant only child. Later, following her mother’s sudden death, Elizabeth’s wise, principled father attempts to fill his late wife’s shoes with a string of loopy, live-in housekeepers—with privileges, he hopes. Before it is over the Mexican escapade will bring down the kind of disasters commonly found in pulp fiction. Why can’t Elizabeth stop any of this from happening? No matter the madness, she cannot confront her parents any more than she ever could. In the end, the surprising way in which they come undone reveals just what they spent their lives trying to hide, thereby setting her free. Though unique in its loony details, Don’t Say A Word! will resonate with beleaguered adult-children everywhere who will recognize the special misery of watching, helpless, as stubborn, diminished parents careen precariously toward the end of life.

Industry Reviews

"What an achievement! Don't Say a Word! is evocative, smart, AND funny, with fresh insights about families on virtually every page. Marcus's drive to comprehend her past will inspire readers who felt silenced in childhood or whose talents and achievements went unappreciated. With this book, she breaks her silence, revealing hard-won realizations and a remarkable ability to laugh through the tears."
--Barbara Schildkraut, MD, author of Unmasking Psychological Symptoms and Masquerading Symptoms

"How well do we know our parents? Elizabeth Marcus confronts this question in her vibrant memoir, which follows the final decade of her parents' lives as they seem to age into inversions of their former controlled and controlling selves. Reflecting on their absurd new friendships and terrible real estate deals, which she describes in hilarious detail, Marcus arrives at a dramatically new view of her difficult parents and their relationship with her. Funny, compassionate, and beautifully written, Don't Say a Word is a moving account of a daughter finding her own story."
--Gail Pool, author of Lost Among the Baining: Adventure, Marriage, and Other Fieldwork

"Marcus is a gifted storyteller, and her memoir is a page-turner. It is written in a way that evokes every emotion imaginable in the scenes recorded. Hers is a beautifully written tale that is likely true of many children observing their parents advance in age. Marcus' writing is fresh, comical, revealing, poignant. It hits you in the heart from all conceivable angles."
--Story Circle Network

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