White Dresses

An Emmy award–winning tv producer offers “a candid, moving memoir” about growing up with a mother battling mental illness (Kirkus Reviews).

As a journalist at Good Morning America, Mary Pflum Peterson’s successful life was at odds with her childhood, where she watched her emotionally vulnerable mother, Anne, unravel before her eyes. But their love of white dresses always united them—from their baptism dresses to their wedding gowns, white dresses embodied hope and new beginnings.

After her mother’s death, Mary dug deep to understand the events that led to Anne’s breakdown. At twenty-one, Anne entered a convent, but lengthy periods of enforced fasting, isolation, and constant humiliation drove her to flee almost a decade later. Hoping to find new purpose as a wife and mother, she married, and was devastated when Mary’s father revealed himself to be gay.

Anne retreated into chaos. By the time Mary was ten, their house was cluttered with broken appliances, stacks of mail, and teetering piles of assorted “treasures.” In spite of everything, their bond endured. Through the white dresses, pivotal events in their lives were celebrated, marking the journey through loss and redemption as Mary tried to save Anne from herself.

“Brave and courageous.” —Regina Calcaterra, New York Times bestselling author of Etched in Sand

“[Peterson’s] prose is as elegant as the white dresses about which she so lovingly writes.” —Dorothea Benton Frank, New York Times bestselling author of Queen Bee