Blood of my blood Book

Blood of My Blood, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's autobiographical first novel, was never published during her lifetime. Written in 1928, the year Rawlings moved to Cross creek, Florida, the manuscript was unknown to her contemporaries—including Maxwell Perkins, her editor at Scribner's. Blood of My Blood is a portrait of the young artist very nearly ruind by egotism and by her mother, Ida, who alternately pushed and spoiled her. It is also a tender tribute to her father, Arthur, and a moving account of their relationship. But always at the center of the story is the intense love and hate that flamed back and forth between mother and daughter. Blood of My Blood reveals not only the painful process of maturation for a creative, tormented mind but also the steady growth of an artist. There are wonderful descriptions of the natural world, people, and objects, and—uniquely for Rawlings—of the big city and city-dwellers. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised there until her graduation from high school in 1914, Rawlings's descriptions of the city are historically charming, and her depiction of the society where "class distinctions were shaved wafer thin" is remarkable for its pertinence nearly a century later.