Highlights the difficulties faced by American families coping with autism in the 1950s, describing how the author's institutionalized twin sister was a part of a secretive and dramatic family environment also marked by his father's position as the editor of "The New Yorker."
Composer Allen Shawn, son of the famed New Yorker editor and brother of playwright Wallace Shawn (MY DINNER WITH ANDRE), had a twin sister who was diagnosed with autism at the age of two and who was sent away to an institution for the rest of her life at age eight. Shawn writes disarmingly about his sense of loss and guilt, and how composing music feels like recapturing the wordless communication between twins during their formative years. He details his fears for his own sanity, and he speculates about any connection between his father's years-long affair with Lillian Ross and the decision to send away his twin sister, Mary. Allen Shawn's eloquent and sensitive memoir helps us understand how a child who is raised in a family with deeply-held secrets can experience deep pain in adult life.
- Genre: Biography + Autobiography
- Subgenre: Personal Memoirs
- Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc
- Edition: Unabridged
- Language: English
- Format: audioCD
- Release Date: December 30, 2010
- Date Published: December 30, 2010
- Author: Allen Shawn
- Narrator: William Hughes (Narrator)