My Mother, Munchausen's and Me: A true story of betrayal and a shocking family secret

 

There was a time when I loved my mother. It’s shocking to imply that I stopped loving my mum because mothers always love their children and always do their best for them. Mothers are supposed to be good. But my mother wasn’t good.

Ten years ago, Helen Naylor discovered her mother, Elinor, had been faking debilitating illnesses for thirty years. After Elinor’s self-induced death, Helen found her diaries, which Elinor wrote daily for over fifty years. The diaries reveal not only the inner workings of Elinor’s twisted mind and self-delusion, but also shocking revelations about Helen’s childhood.

Everything Helen knew about herself and her upbringing was founded on a lie. The unexplained accidents and days spent entirely on her own as a little girl, imagining herself climbing into the loft and disappearing into a different world, tell a story of neglect. As a teenager, her mother’s advice to Helen on her body and mental health speaks of dangerous manipulation.

With Elinor’s behaviour becoming increasingly destructive, and Helen now herself a mother, she was left with a stark choice: to collude with Elinor’s lies or be accused of abandoning her.

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About The Author

Helen Naylor has been writing as a hobby since she was a small child, but it wasn’t until she began a memoir about growing up with a mother who faked illnesses and had narcissistic personality traits that she was encouraged to pursue writing professionally.

Helen lives in Nottingham with her husband, two children and cat, and enjoys playing guitar, drinking good coffee and cycling.

 

My Review

 

Helen Naylor is the author and the victim and lived with a mentally ill woman in her family, her mother, and we journey through her life with her words. As children we accept what we have, our parents are our parents, no matter what happens.
We travel with Helen as she tries to have a life in spite of her mother, and repeatedly tries to help for her, will anyone listen before it’s too late?
This is a true story, that made me wish it was fiction, as we are walking in Helen’s shoes, and hoping all along for a change.
Keep reading there are surprises revealed, and we wish Elinor would have had help, maybe as a child!
This a read that will linger and show how a person with Munchausen syndrome acts, and hope that maybe this will help save another individual.

I received this audiobook through Net Galley and the Publisher Thread Books, and was not required to give a positive review.