Brushstrokes: A Work in Progress

by Siobhan Barry-Bratcher

"Brushstrokes: A Work in Progress" is a memoir, a celebration of childhood gone right and the foundation it creates. The first half of the book traces the author's family history from her parents' childhood years in Depression era Brooklyn, New York to her own childhood in the mid 1950s and 1960s. The book then returns to the 1990s where the middle-aged author finds positive solutions for dealing with life in present-day New York by drawing on her past experiences. She realizes that each person's life is "a work in progress" whose finished product is unknown even to the artist. This conclusion leads her to some unusual and even humorous solutions as she attempts to create her own reality and get the most from this lifetime.

203 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2002