Rescuing Barbara

Ignoring her mother may have been a mistake.

During a bout of sobriety, Barbara implored her young daughter to turn her back on her if she began drinking again. Exhausted by her mother's alcoholism, Cass finally took this advice and ignored everything the woman said or did for many years. She did not return calls, she did not visit, she did not react, send letters, or cajole. She simply turned away and waited for her mother to hit bottom or die trying. But as she discovered, bottom may be much farther down than one expects. Eventually, she is forced to wade in and untangle the mess her mother has created.

A gripping series of moments - painful, loving, desperate - Rescuing Barbara is a bitterly funny, and even lyrical story about the inherent dangers of detachment ... and a reminder that predators are everywhere, waiting to fill in the gaps.