The Library is pleased to host Lenox author Marilyn Haus on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss her new memoir, Half of a Whole: My Fight for a Separate Life. This event will take place via Zoom; please click HERE to access the meeting.
Half of a Whole explores the intimate bond between a twin brother and sister, the cruel consequences that occur when one of them becomes mentally ill, and the courage required to break away when love is not enough.
Just when Marilyn Peterson Haus thought she had escaped life as the child of born-again farmers on the Minnesota plains, her twin brother’s manic violence catapults her back to the fissures of her childhood. Half of a Whole is the haunting chronicle of her twin’s encroaching mental illness, her mother’s blatant favoritism, and the stultifying strictures of her family’s religious zealotry. Sentence by sentence, she battles to break free from a painful past and live life on her own terms.
Photo by Edward Acker
About the author: Marilyn Peterson Haus grew up on a Minnesota farm. Having retired from a business career, she enjoys gardening, cross country skiing, and listening to classical music. She lives with her husband in Lenox, Massachusetts.