This story moved me as I reflect on my childhood. My mother, a young widow raising three young children, had to clean rich people’s homes to earn a living and put food on the table. I remember being embarrassed as a child when asked what my mom did for a living, but her strong work ethic and will to survive is a reflection of my drive and discipline. I’m grateful for all that she taught me.
Book Overview
Stephanie Land, in her debut memoir, describes the struggles she faced as a young single mother living in poverty. Land, who got pregnant at 28, and was in an abusive relationship, walked away from the abuse and went on to raise her daughter, Mia, while working as a part-time house cleaner in Skagit Valley, Wash. Later, using public assistance, Land moved to a moldy studio apartment and got her daughter into daycare. While housecleaning, Land imagines the lives of the clients, whom she knows intimately through their habits and possessions and their apparent unhappiness despite their financial comfort.
She fosters compassion as well as gratitude for her own modest space and experiences the humiliating stigma of being poor in America. Even while working, Land continued to follow her dream of becoming a writer. She began a journal and took online classes, and eventually attended the University of Montana in Missoula. Land’s love for her daughter shines brightly through the pages of this beautiful, uplifting story of resilience and survival.
Have you read this book? What did you think? If not, I highly recommend it.
