Between Them: Remembering My Parents

From American master Richard Ford, a memoir: his first work of nonfiction, a stirring narrative of memory and parental love

How is it that we come to consider our parents as people with rich and intense lives that include but also exclude us? Richard Ford’s parents—Edna, a feisty, pretty Catholic-school girl with a difficult past; and Parker, a sweet-natured, soft-spoken traveling salesman—were rural Arkansans born at the turn of the twentieth century. Married in 1928, they lived “alone together” on the road, traveling throughout the South. Eventually they had one child, born late, in 1944.

For Ford, the questions of what his parents dreamed of, how they loved each other and loved him become a striking portrait of American life in the mid-century. Between Them is his vivid image of where his life began and where his parents’ lives found their greatest satisfaction.

Bringing his celebrated candor, wit, and intelligence to this most intimate and mysterious of landscapes—our parents’ lives—the award-winning storyteller and creator of the iconic Frank Bascombe delivers an unforgettable exploration of memory, intimacy, and love.

Two lives lived almost entirely on the road. One son, born late, piecing together the world that existed between them.

• A Portrait of a Marriage: Edna and Parker, married in 1928, spent fifteen years living "alone together" in hotel rooms and on the highways of the South before their only child was born.
• Mid-Century American Life: A vivid depiction of the Great Depression and post-war years through the eyes of a traveling starch salesman and his spirited wife.
• The Mystery of the Past: A son born late in his parents’ lives attempts to reconstruct their world—their dreams, their love for each other, and the life they lived before he existed.
• The Life of a Traveling Salesman: Ride along with Parker Ford in his company car, visiting the back-street warehouses and small towns of a bygone era in the American South.

Richard Ford’s parents—Edna, a feisty, pretty Catholic-school girl with a difficult past; and Parker, a sweet-natured, soft-spoken traveling salesman—were rural Arkansans born at the turn of the twentieth century. Married in 1928, they lived “alone together” on the road, traveling throughout the south. Eventually they had Richard, born in 1944.

For Ford, the questions of what his parents dreamed of—how they loved each other and loved him—become a striking portrait of American life in the mid-century.

Bringing his celebrated candor, wit, and intelligence to this most intimate and mysterious of landscapes—our parents’ lives—the award-winning storyteller delivers an unforgettable exploration of memory, intimacy, and love.

“By any standards, this is a singular volume, as peculiarly personal as it is slim…a subtle, careful testament to devotion and a son’s love for his parents.” - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Every page of this little remembrance teems with Ford’s luxuriant prose, his moving and tender longing for his parents, and his affecting and intimate portrait of two people simply living life as best they can.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A masterful distillation of sensuous description, psychological intricacy, social insights, and a keen sense of place. Ford’s reflections are bright with wit, edgy with candor, and lustrous with extraordinary poignancy and love.” - BookPage

“Affection and insightful...deep, attentive...In this slim beauty of a memoir, [Ford] has given us--the same way he has given us many times in his fiction--a remarkable story about two unremarkable people we would have never known, but for him.” - Cheryl Strayed, New York Times Book Review

“[A]n honest recording of two ‘wonderful’ if ordinary parents...Ford notes how the act of writing a memoir, of having the last word, discloses his own shortcomings, then and now...‘It is merely how life is,’ the ultimate truth to which this affecting book is witness.” - Boston Globe

“In this beautiful and tender memoir, Ford seems to see all of the important details. He makes his readers grateful that he shared them.” - Portland Press Herald