Through a Mirror Dimly reflects the tumultuous life of a daughter born to a Catholic mother from Manhattan and a Jewish father from Brooklyn -she is a self-proclaimed "Jew-wop-y." Familial violence is juxtaposed against political and cultural innocence, creating a childhood of uncertainty and contradiction. Mental illness and her parents' divorce play leading roles and usher our heroine to the altar at age 17. From Greenwich Village to Queens, Long Island, and the Bronx... to Colorado and California... and then back to New York in Westchester County, her youth is shaped and overshadowed by a mother who exacted a steep price because of mental illness. Fuzzy memories of abuse and dysfunction crystalize into images that clarify the woman she became. Poignant-and at times comic-Satinoff recounts the experiences that created her broken inner self, and the burgeoning faith that ultimately leads her to acceptance and forgiveness.
