Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes: Explaining My Work to My Daughters

When criminal defense attorney Trupp leaves her home and her three daughters each morning for work in New York City, she trades one set of important demands (“marshmallows for breakfast”) for the demands of her clients, most of whom are convicted murderers or rapists. This memoir is Trupp's explanation to her daughters: “why I choose to walk out the door each morning, despite their frequent pleas that I stay home,” in order to step into the high-pressure environment of a courtroom, visiting prisons or even risking danger in the apartments of possible suspects. Trupp expertly reaches out to every working mother as she describes her day-to-day challenge of being in two places at once, struggles to keep up her pre-children physical appearance and relates a depressing experience at American Girl Place with her daughter where Trupp yearns for the simpler “quality time” that she spent with her own mother waiting in gas lines or running errands. This brashly frank memoir is packed with minute details of her work that will enthrall fans of legal thrillers, but may not hold the attention of readers who are simply looking for the story of how one woman balances family, hard work and having a quiet moment to herself. (Apr.)