If Nights Could Talk: A Family Memoir Book

If Nights Could Talk is a rich gothic story of a Southern family, a tale of wealth and emotional need that spans generations.Marsha Recknagel's story begins with the surprise appearance of her 16-year-old nephew, Jamie, who arrives on her doorstep and into her ordered, childless life. Fleeing a chaotic home run by Marsha's unstable younger brother and his wife, Jamie is an ominous creature. He is dressed in Goth garb and clearly ready to take to the streets. For Marsha, to open the door is to risk opening herself up to the pain of the past. For years Jamie has been the center of an ongoing family tug-of-war, a victim of erratic court systems and tangled bureacratic social services. Reluctantly Marsha takes him inside. Thus begins the painful, terrifying, and extraordinary process of unraveling the damage inflicted by her family on one of its own.Woven into this record of rescue is a portrait of the unified yet tormented Reckangel family. Forced to search through the heart of her family's past, Marsha recounts stories of her oil wildcatter father, who died a mysterious death and whose presence pervades the book, of her young niece who drinks and drugs herself to an early death, and of the brother who could not live up to the father's expectations. Reliving this history, Marsha comes to realize that her partnership with Jamie has been inevitable, and their fates inextricable. Marsha begins as Jamie's guide, but soon discovers lessons only he can teach her. Through this, Marsha learns to accept and forgive a family dedicated to disasters.Armed with beautiful prose and a heart-wrenching story, this debut is a breathtaking saga of love and redemption. AUTHORBIO: MARSHA RECKNAGEL has an MFA from Bennington College. She teaches creative writing at Rice University in Houston, Texas.Read More