Elaine R. Warick

Don't Tell Your Mother Elaine R. Warick

From a World War II plane crash to chasing an axe murderer, Don´t Tell Your Mother is an episodic novel told from the point of view of a young girl as she negotiates life in Arizona with her angry, bitter mother and her charming polo-player father, all against the backdrop of World War II. Her accounts are humorous, dry, and have a detachment found only in an innocent but resilient child.

On her journey from childhood to adolescence she tries to comprehend adult behavior. Along the way she is exposed to molestation, a friend´s incest, a stranger´s suicide, a hacksaw murderer adultery, mental illness, a gangster, and an escaped German prisoner. She also experiences great love and tenderness from ordinary people: housekeepers, gardeners, teacher, neighbors, and relatives.

Several of the chapters in this book have been previously published: "Winnie Ruth Judd" in Phantasmagoria ; "Mrs. King" in RE: AL, A Literary Journal and "Cousin Chickie," in Oregon East.