Ivy Lodge - by Linda Murphy Marshall (Paperback)

About the Book

Following the deaths of her parents, Linda Murphy Marshall returns to her midwestern childhood home; in the process of going through each room, she evokes memories and insights from her patriarchal 1960s upbringing, and--informed by her training as a translator--finds new meanings in the often disturbing events that took place in that home.

Book Synopsis

After both her parents die, Linda Murphy Marshall, a multi-linguist and professional translator, returns to her midwestern childhood home, Ivy Lodge, to sort through a lifetime of belongings with her siblings. Room by room, she sifts through the objects in her parents' house and uses her skills and perspective as a longtime professional translator to make sense of the events of her past--to "translate" her memories and her life. In the process, she sees things with new eyes. All of her parents' things, everything having to do with their cherished hobbies, are housed in a home that, although it looks impressive from the outside, is anything but impressive inside; in short, she now realizes that much of it --even the house's fancy name--was show.

By the time Murphy Marshall is done with Ivy Lodge, she has not only made new discoveries about her past, she has also come to a new understanding of who she is and how she fits into her world.

Review Quotes

2023 NYC Big Book Awards Distinguished Favorite in Memoir
2023 Readers' Favorite Book Awards Honorable Mention in Non-Fiction - Memoir
2022 Best Book Awards Finalist in Nonfiction: Creative

"Thoughtfully conceived, this deeply personal, acutely observed recollection is a captivating voyage to the past. Readers who are
mourning parents will particularly relate to the story. A moving, courageously frank, and sharply intuitive account about a manor filled with memories."
--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"This book is a masterpiece of social observation and self-scrutiny."
--Readers' Favorite, 5-star review

"Translation, at its essence, is the rendering of one into another. That is the guiding force behind Ivy Lodge, one woman's return to a childhood home and the secrets within. Triggered by the deaths of elderly parents who hoarded artifacts from a lifetime of collecting, Murphy Marshall journeys deep into the labyrinth of memory, perception, and the shapeshifting forces of identity. Room by room, object by object, she examines the detritus of a troubled family past to excavate the meaning of home and restore the narrative of a self she thought she had lost. A beautiful debut."
--Harrison Candelaria Fletcher, author of Presentimiento: A Life in Dreams

"Ivy Lodge pulses with the elemental dynamic of family dysfunction and interpersonal isolation. Linda Murphy Marshall's exploration of the ostentatious house in which she grew up peels back the psychic, cultural, and spiritual layers of one family's particular, and divided, residence upon this earth. Our tribal blood both binds us and pits us against each other. Ivy Lodge brings that emotional paradox into a brilliantly sharp focus."
--Sue William Silverman, author of How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences

"Using translation of languages as a metaphor to search for the meaning of family relationships, Linda Murphy Marshall takes the readers on a journey of recollection and compassion to understand her parents. Ultimately, Ivy Lodge is a story of self-discovery through the language of love, written in elegant prose. It is an extraordinary book."
--Allison Hong Merrill, author of Ninety-Nine Fire Hoops: A Memoir

"With carefully crafted narrative, Linda Murphy-Marshall has written the next great memoir about her painful and still-mysterious childhood. After both parents' deaths, she returns to the family home, Ivy Lodge--a grand façade that shrouds the emptiness inside. She moves from room to room, examining distressing memories that stem from her emotionally detached parents. A multi-linguist, Murphy-Marshall applies her considerable language skills to translate the dialogue that still echoes, ultimately accepting that some languages may be too intricate to understand. I highly recommend this first-time author and look forward to her next release!"
--Donna Koros Stramella, author of Coffee Killed My Mother

"A comfortably white middle-class American family living in the Midwest: what could go wrong? No poverty or alcoholism, no racial discrimination or physical abuse: how could someone raised in such favorable circumstances emerge so wounded? Linda Marshall's memoir takes us deep into the dysfunction of one such family. In intriguing detail, she examines how seemingly ideal conditions can result in a lifelong attempt to 'translate' parents' actions into meaning. Many will relate to the lives it describes, prevalent and arguably influential in shaping our country's social fabric as they are."
--Chivvis Moore, author of First Tie Your Camel, Then Trust in God: An American Feminist in the Arab World

"Ivy Lodge is a brave, beautiful book about the unspoken language of family. Linda Murphy Marshall is unafraid of looking in the dark corners of her childhood home in order to find meaning, peace, and ultimately, light."
--Dawn Raffel, author of The Secret Life of Objects

About the Author

Linda Murphy Marshall is a multi-linguist and writer with a PhD in Hispanic languages and literature, a master's in Spanish, and an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in The Los Angeles Review, Maryland Literary Review, the Ocotillo Review, Chestnut Review, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, Bacopa Literary Review, PopMatters, Storgy [UK], The Bark Magazine, Catamaran Literary Reader, and Critical Read. She was featured in American Writers Review, where she was an Honorable Mention for the 2019 Fiction Contest. She was long-listed in Strands Publishers's 2021 International Flash Fiction Contest, and was a finalist in the 2020 Annual Adelaide Literary Contest for one of her essays. In addition, she is currently a reader for Fourth Genre and a translation editor for the Los Angeles Review. Her sketches and paintings have been featured in art shows and galleries. She lives in Columbia, MD.