Plum Johnson is visiting the Burford Branch of the County of Brant Library next weekend to talk about her book describing her experience cleaning out her childhood home after the loss of her elderly mother. The author spent a year living in her parent’s home, going through the history of a lifetime, donating junk and cataloguing belongings. She came to know her mother more intimately and learned about herself during the 16 months she spent in the home.

They Left Us Everything DISCUSSION GUIDE 1. Why is the title ironic? What are the major themes in the book? Which theme do you find the most compelling? One of the reviewers called the house “a character in its own right.” Do you agree? How does the setting and the house affect the story? Have you ever had a similar. They Left Us Everything is an odd little memoir. The author recounts the year following her mother's death, during which she lived in her childhood home going through her parents' things and preparing the.

The relationship between mother and daughter was strained at times. There was an obligation to spend time together. Plum helped her mother with tasks and she admitted that she yearned for freedom. She spent time with her mother at the expense of her own children and at times resented her duty to her mom – and then suddenly, she was gone leaving a void.

The family had moved to Oakville when it had “the feel of an artistic summer-camp community – sleepy and rural, surrounded by farmland” with one traffic light which is very different from the populous, affluent Oakville of today. The home was overlooking the lake and expansive for their family of 7. They lived through drafty winters, parties when they rolled up the rugs to dance and sadness with the loss of Plum’s brother and the slow decline of her father. The home was a home base and they each shared their unique memories and discussed strategy for cleaning up the home at their sibling suppers.

They Left Us Everything

As Plum cleaned the house, she also came to terms with the relationship she shared with her mother. She learned more about her family history through letters and journals. She found a letter written by her mother saying that she loved her. I enjoyed the book and was happy to start reading and realize that the home was not a house of hoarders which was what I was imagining was the”everything”. I am looking forward to hearing more about the author’s experience. This book has been nominated for an Evergreen Award along with Birdie which was a contender in the 2016 Canada Reads competition.

“Earlier I had resolved to clear out my own mess too, so my children wouldn’t have to face it but since then I have had a change of heart. Now I believe that this clearing out is a valuable process – best left for our children. It is the only way they’ll ever truly get to know us, discovering things that we never wanted them to find”.

After almost twenty years of caring for elderly parents — first for their senile father, then for their cantankerous ninety-three-year-old mother — author Plum Johnson and her three younger brothers experience conflicted feelings of grief and relief when their mother, the surviving parent, dies.

Now they must empty and sell the beloved family home, which hasn't been de-cluttered in more than half a century. Twenty-three rooms bulge with history, antiques and oxygen tanks. Plum remembers her loving but difficult parents who could not have been more different: the British father, a handsome, disciplined patriarch who nonetheless could not control his opinionated, extroverted Southern-belle wife who loved tennis and gin gimlets. The task consumes her, becoming more rewarding than she ever imagined.

Items from childhood trigger memories of her eccentric family growing up in a small town on the shores of Lake Ontario in the 1950s and 60s. But unearthing new facts about her parents helps her reconcile those relationships with a more accepting perspective about who they were and what they valued. (From Penguin Canada)

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From the book

The night before I turn sixty-three, I'm looking in the mirror, pulling up my sagging jawline up to my ears, listening to voicemails on speakerphone. Three are from Mum:

'Happy birthday m'darlin'!'

'Promise you'll drive out first thing tomorrow!'

'Damn this machine! Call me!'

Mum is ninety-three, and these are her messages just since dinner. Nineteen years, one month, and twenty-six days of eldercare have brought me to my knees. But first thing next morning, I crawl to my car, hack at the ice on my windshield, and slump into the front seat with the heater cranked up.

They Left Us Everything Summary

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From They Left Us Everything by Plum Johnson ©2014. Published by Penguin Canada.

They Left Us Everything By Plum Johnson

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