The Florist's DaughterThis New York Times Notable memoir of a middle-class, middle-America family is a "beautiful bouquet of a book" ( Entertainment Weekly). They say "a daughter is a daughter all her life," and no statement could be truer for Patricia Hampl. Born to a Czech father—an artistic florist—and a wary Irish mother, Hampl experienced a childhood in St. Paul, Minnesota, that couldn't have been more normal, the perfect example of a twentieth century middle-class, middle-American upbringing. But as she faces the death of her mother, Hampl reflects on the struggles her parents went through to provide that normal, boring existence, and her own struggles with fulfilling the role of dutiful daughter as she grew through the postwar years to the turbulent sixties and couldn't help wanting to rebel against the notion of a "relentlessly modest life." Named a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year, The Florist's Daughter is Hampl's most extraordinary work to date—a "quietly stunning" reminiscence of a Midwestern girlhood, and a reflection on what it means to be a daughter ( People). |
Contents
Section 1 | 1 |
Section 2 | 21 |
Section 3 | 44 |
Section 4 | 68 |
Section 5 | 83 |
Section 6 | 110 |
Section 7 | 128 |
Section 8 | 142 |
Section 9 | 171 |
Section 10 | 185 |
Section 11 | 202 |
Section 12 | 220 |
Section 13 | 229 |
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Common terms and phrases
asked aunt Banfil Barefoot Contessa beauty brother Buick Bullard's Cake Bible called Cathedral Christmas condo Crocus Hill customers Czech Czech grandmother Czech side dark daughter dead doctor door everything eyes face father fish florist flowers Frank Murphy Frankie Fraser firs garden gaze gift of gab girl girlhood glass gone green greenhouse Hampl hand heart holiday innocent Irish keep knew Leo the Lion lilacs lived look Mary middle Minnesota mother neighborhood never night Noble fir nurse okay Ollie Patricia Hampl Paul poetry poinsettia powdered egg whites rink river Robert Mitchum roses Russian salad Scarlett O'Hara Scott Fitzgerald smile Stan stayed story street Summit Avenue talk tell ther things told turned voice waiting walked wanted West Seventh window winter woman word