Paperback
Retail Price: $24.95
Reflections is an intimate, poignant and sometimes humorous testament to a life well lived.
This compelling memoir spans nearly a century from the 1920’s into our present blazing information age.
Growing up on the Canadian border at Niagara Falls, Mary Lou ‘s childhood is overshadowed by the privation and hopelessness of the great Depression years, her family struggling to keep food on the table and provide education for her and her two brothers. Her teen years, marked by the tragedies of World War II, are also illuminated by the discovery of her passion for music, a leitmotif in her life.
Her journey is defined by her three marriages; the first marriage, youthful and misguided, after twenty years and three children, ends in divorce when she falls head over heels for a charismatic widowed father of six. This marriage, with a chaotic household of many children, travels and a three year sojourn in South Africa ends tragically with his sudden death at age sixty. Left with little money, Mary Lou struggles to forge an identity. She goes back to school, working part time, and eventually launches her own design business.
A miraculous turn of events leads to her third marriage, a mature, rewarding partnership inspiring her creative efforts, writing and filmmaking. After her husband’s death, Mary Lou reflects upon the many blessings of her life: family, friendships, music and love, with a profound acceptance.
Paperback
Format: 6 x 9 Black & White Paperback, 458 pages
Publisher: Outskirts Press (Jun 30, 2022)
ISBN10: 1977247644
ISBN13: 9781977247643
Genre: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical
Mary Lou received her A.T.C.M. from Toronto Conservatory at age eighteen. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Lindenwood College and later, did graduate studies in piano at the Eastman School of Music and at the Dalcroze school. She was enrolled in the Chamber music department at the Berkshire Music festival at Tanglewood. She studied piano with Karl Ulrich Schnabel for many years in New York City and at Lake Como, Italy.
In addition to her musical studies, Mary Lou earned a degree in Interior and Environmental Design from UCLA in 1992. In her seventies, she produced a documentary film, Con Brio. At eighty-four, she wrote and published a creative nonfiction, In Our Quiet Village, and the following year, edited and published her great grandfather’s 1850’s journal, Peregrinations of Verdancy. Mary Lou is 94 years old, and lives in Los Angeles. 
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