I am delighted to share in these pages, stories completed between 1982 and 2011; as a whole, they reflect so much of my life and my passions. With great pride, at 90, I bid you welcome to this "bouquet of memories"!

In this memoir, childhood recollections become the springboard for depicting the challenges of a Latina, an immigrant, and a bicultural mother in the United States. The vignettes of life under communist rule in her native Cuba help readers glean a harsh contrast with the civil liberties Americans enjoy. Infused with humor and candid introspection, the writing tackles the pitfalls, the contradictions, and the cultural scrimmages that emerge after marriage to an Anglo man and during the upbringing of their bicultural daughter. When her enthusiasm for Spanish language immersion at home meets with the child's resistance, the author is forced to question the visceral attachment she feels for her birth language. Stumbling through motherhood, she ponders how to live an authentic sense of self while mothering in English. She resolves not to push the daughter to speak Spanish and risk damaging their mother-daughter bond. Instead, the author begins to write and crafts this family legacy as an invitation for her daughter to embrace her Cuban-Spanish lineage. This Latina mother's journey of self-reflection dredges memories of her birthplace, family, exile, cultural adaptation, and social integration. Through the narrative lens of a child, refugee, daughter, wife, mother, professor, and an acculturated Cuban American, the author depicts the culture-clashing complexities of her biculturalism. It is while examining the precariousness of family relationships that the author arrives at a deeper understanding of the nuances of ethnic identity. Through this writing, she achieves a genuine embrace of the extraordinary adoptive country that irrevocably ties her to her beloved American daughter. May you, reader, be inspired to collect and stitch for posterity your tapestry of family stories.

A Bouquet of Memories is a heart warming account of Mary Goodhind's life from her early years in pre-war London-including her vivid recollections of her wartime experiences of being an evacuee-to her family's move to a new house in Barnehurst to escape the Blitz. She recounts the wartime privations, including rationing, with good humour, but her strong Catholic faith and close family ties to her parents and brother, Rory, were great sources or strength during the war years and beyond. German air-raids, both from conventional bombs, and later on with the V-1 and V-2 rockets, required a spirit of fortitude and endurance, and it seems that for the most part, people shrugged their shoulders and got on with life as well as they could. Her experiences of childhood, school, and her local church, reveal a world which has largely disappeared, a time before television, when there was a much greater sense of community. Similarly, her years at Convent school and her first job in a bank after the War provide fascinating insights into a very different way of life. A Bouquet of Memories also recounts Mary's love of horses and the friendships she established both during and after the War, as well as her numerous holidays and pilgrimages. This book will help the children of today to realise some of the things that their own relatives went through in the turbulent first half of the twentieth century. And while it will be a trip down memory lane for those who have lived through similar experiences, it will be an eye opener for those to whom World War II and its aftermath are mainly part of a fading historical remembrance.

"A hauntingly witty, illustrated debut in the vein of Edward Gorey, that explores the power and mystery of human memory, by artist Cecilia Ruiz"--

A beautiful and heartfelt picture book to help children celebrate the memories left behind when a loved one dies. Fox has lived a long and happy life in the forest, but now he is tired. He lies down in his favourite clearing, and falls asleep for ever. Before long, Fox's friends begin to gather in the clearing. One by one, they tell stories of the special moments that they shared with Fox. And so, as they share their memories, a tree begins to grow, becoming bigger and stronger with each memory, sheltering and protecting all the animals in the forest, just as Fox did when he was alive. This gentle story about the loss of a loved one is perfect for sharing and will bring comfort to both children and parents.

DEADLY MEMORIES - What she can't remember might kill her... _______________________________________________________ "She doesn't remember a thing," Rolph snapped into the phone. Andrea froze. His back was turned away from her. He didn't know she was there, listening. "It's been six months, for God's sake. If you harm one hair on her head, I'll contact the authorities. My father would be disgraced, but that will not deter me." Now Andrea couldn't move. There was no doubt Rolph was talking about her. She wondered how his father, the French Ambassador, could be disgraced. His voice modulated to a threatening whisper. "This is the end. Otherwise she goes directly into protective custody, and I spill my guts. You've lied to me, made me into a damned traitor, and I'm angry enough to do it out of spite." Now Andrea knew there were secrets he was keeping from her. What did he mean about protective custody? Was she in danger? The one blank spot in her mind was a mysterious car crash. She didn't know how she had landed at the bottom of a cliff in the Santa Monica mountains of Los Angeles. She remembered the fabulous party in Beverly Hills that night, but try as she might, she couldn't remember the sequence of events leading to the accident. Rolph's last words chilled her, "I have nothing to lose. I'm a dead man."