Dismantle

At age ten, Angie was living a happy life with her parents and siblings on an Ashram in Vermont. Life was predictable but peaceful as she attended worship services, went to school, and played taste tester in her father's home-based bakery. Her simple life soon began to crumble when her mother announced a spontaneous move to Seattle, sight unseen. As Angie and her siblings struggled to adjust to their new school and surroundings, their childhood was overshadowed by their parents' acrimonious divorce, their mother's newfound sexual liberation, and their father's increasing aloofness. At a time when most kids her age grappled with the awkwardness of puberty, Angie found herself playing surrogate for a mother she no longer recognized and a father who wasn't there.

This smartly written and painfully poignant coming-of-age memoir cuts deep to the heart of family values and examines the strength found in heartbreak.