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.

In this quietly powerful portrait, Ford illuminates:

• A Son’s Tribute: An honest attempt to understand his parents, Parker and Edna, not just as a mother and father, but as people with lives that both included and excluded their only child.
• The Traveling Salesman: A portrait of his father, a sweet-natured Arkansan who spent fifteen years on the road with his wife before their son was born late in their lives.
• Mid-Century American South: A vivid depiction of life on the road in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi during the 1930s and ’40s, seen through the eyes of two people making a world for themselves.
• Family History: A powerful exploration of memory and intimacy, piecing together a past from fleeting moments, old photographs, and the enduring gaps between what a child can know and what his parents truly were.

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 Ford’s 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.

“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