“Some nights, when my parents’ voices rose the loudest, I would leave my hiding place and walk out into the middle of their battleground. Standing between them, I would scream, or cry, or knock something over, anything I could think of to draw their attention away from each other and onto myself. It was safer for them to be angry with me, because I, at least, would always be forgiven,” writes Genevieve Kingston in her debut memoir, “Did I Ever Tell You?” This line has a powerful impact when juxtaposed with the opening of the book: “When I was 3 years old, my mother learned she had an aggressive form of breast cancer.
” Setting the stage for a compelling and unexpected journey for the reader, Kingston’s pages are brimming with wisdom of a young child, who had to grow up fast, contend with the concept of loss on multiple fronts, and learn the true meaning of forgiveness. In 2021, Kingston, who grew up in the Bay Area, published a Modern Love essay in the New York Times titled “She Put Her Unspent Love in a Cardboard Box.” It tells the story of her terminally ill mother leaving a cardboard chest of letters and gifts for Kingston and her older brother to be opened postmortem.
The essay gave birth to her page-turning memoir, a life story that transcends the narrative of grief, delving into themes of parenthood, mental health, forgiveness and love. Her memoir — published in April — is currently in translation in 12 languages and set to be released in 16 more .