Diary of a Stage Mother’s Daughter

A recounting of her mother’s abusive behavior sets the stage for Melissa Francis’s compelling memoir. Francis, now a broadcast news journalist, once played Cassandra Cooper Ingalls on the television show Little House on the Prairie. By the time she landed the plum role she was already a television pro. Her older Tiffany disliked performing, which antagonized their neurotic mother. She lavished attention on Francis and constantly belittled and harangued her sister, and their mother’s mercurial temperament created continuous family tension. “When we were at home, my sister and I lived in a state of constant wariness, always reading Mom’s mood and bracing for impact when that mood turned ominous.” As Francis departed for Harvard, her older sister’s life was a shambles. Though once very close, their intimacy had dissipated, a fact Francis deeply regrets. The author’s personal and professional life flourished; her sister’s spiraled downward in a cloud of loneliness, depression, and drugs resulting in a family tragedy and her mother’s ultimate act of betrayal: “It had been more than a year since I had given her the choice of coming back to help Tiffany or losing us forever, and she has chosen to throw all of us away.” A thoughtful trek across a troubled family landscape resulting in a bittersweet yet hopeful final act. (Nov.)