Current Writing Project:
What's Remembered, Lives -
“There are things,” my Grandma Winnie would say, “better left forgotten.” That was always her response to questions about her life. When she died my father and I sorted through a box of photos and came across a letter dated 1911 in San Francisco. The letterhead was from The California Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. “There are things,” I heard my Grandma Winnie say in my head, “better left forgotten.”
The letter began:
“Dear Madam,
Complying with your request for a brief history of these two children...”
In just a few paragraphs the letter revealed a family who had survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. It talked about a mother dying of “a cancer of the throat” in October of 1907, and shortly thereafter of a little girl and her brother taken away from their father who was, “...a man of violent temper and intemperate habits.” I tucked the letter away with the photos and other mementos of my grandmother. I was curious, of course, but every time I thought about it I would hear her voice, “Better left forgotten.” Years later I came across the letter again and decided they had been forgotten long enough...follow my journey of discovery and writing this new book at my "What's Remembered, Lives!" blog.
The letter began:
“Dear Madam,
Complying with your request for a brief history of these two children...”
In just a few paragraphs the letter revealed a family who had survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. It talked about a mother dying of “a cancer of the throat” in October of 1907, and shortly thereafter of a little girl and her brother taken away from their father who was, “...a man of violent temper and intemperate habits.” I tucked the letter away with the photos and other mementos of my grandmother. I was curious, of course, but every time I thought about it I would hear her voice, “Better left forgotten.” Years later I came across the letter again and decided they had been forgotten long enough...follow my journey of discovery and writing this new book at my "What's Remembered, Lives!" blog.
Novels
Barefoot was named in the top 50 of the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards and is a perfect read for middle school students through grandparents!
"Splendid prose and smart storytelling make this realistic and intimate memoir-style YA novel shine. In 1963, seven-year old Opal's mom dies in a freak accident and her father abandons her to the care of her maternal grandmother and extended family in the mountains of California. The adjustment from only child to member of a clan is hard for Opal, but the roughness of her young cousins is balanced with the kindness of the adults and a benign neglect that gives her new freedoms. She experiences many happy firsts, such as climbing a tree, attending school, and learning to read, yet she's also exposed to the uglier side of life -- domestic violence, the realities of the war in Vietnam, and her father remarrying and starting a new life and a new family far away. Broken up into sections that cover a few years at a time, the well-balanced and complex story is scented with strong memories and anchored with passing historic references. Adept writing makes Opal and her kin sympathetic in their trials and tribulations without being pitiful, gently showing the cultural differences education and opportunity can bring. The theme of creating families of choice and necessity meshes well with that of people learning from their mistakes, and readers will be intrigued to see what happens as Opal learns the true depth of her family's love and grows into a remarkable young woman." - Publishers Weekly |
 cover art from a painting by
Paula Matzinger
"In One of Another, Lizann Bassham has written a tender, funny, and of course heartbreaking chronicle of AIDS in mid-eighties San Francisco. At a time when the source of AIDS was still in doubt, and few effective treatments existed for combating this new terror, three straight and five gay characters form an extended and loving family. In San Francisco's Castro District, ground zero for the AIDS epidemic in the city, all of them battle AIDS - either through having the disease itself or in caring for those who do - with humor, courage, and love. If you're feeling cynical about human behavior, I recommend you visit the eight heroes of this book as a tonic.
At the end of reading One of Another, I so much missed the characters that I immediately reread the book. And even after that I've continued to reread my favorite passages. While this story is about dying - the "dance of death," as my favorite character, Libby, characterizes it - it's much more about living. These are not characters marking time but people fully living life in the face of death. I envy anyone who has the opportunity to meet the smart, funny, and brave family members of One of Another for the first time. Lizann Bassham has created her own tales of the city that is different from Armistead Maupin's, but in some ways just as memorable. " - Jeff Seeman |