Gile's childhood had been spent in doctor's offices; she spent nearly every waking moment at her mother's side. As Nyna grew up, her mother became more and more distant. Carolyn Scott Reybold had been a model in 1947, a friend of Grace Kelly, and even a bridesmaid at her wedding. How had that confident, glamorous woman become the mother Giles knew growing up-- the mother who was now living in a shelter? In her journey to uncover her mother's past,...

"After an abusive, neglected childhood spent on welfare and in and out of homelessness in Alaska, raised by a mother who believed she was the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary, Carrot Quinn moved out on her own. She found a sense of belonging with a bunch of straight-edge anarchists who taught her how to traverse the country by freight trains, sleep in fields under the stars, and find her food by foraging in dumpsters. Her new life was one of thrilling...