PROJECTION : ENCOUNTERS WITH MY RUNAWAY MOTHER

An evocative, precisely written, brutally honest memoir that will have particular resonance for with anyone with a turbulent or unresolved familial relationship.

In 1977, Priscila Uppal's father, employed as a project manager for CIDA, swallowed contaminated water in Antigua, and within 48 hours was a quadriplegic. Priscila was two years old. Five years later, her mother, Theresa, drained the bank accounts, including those of her two children, and disappeared to Brazil. She had no further contact with the family. In 2002, while searching online for reviews of her first novel, Priscila happened upon her mother's website, which featured a childhood photograph of Priscila and her brother Jit. A few weeks later, Priscila summoned the nerve to contact the woman who'd abandoned her, and after a few awkward phone calls and e-mails, a meeting was arranged. Projection is the story of their encounter; how two strangers spent eight days trying to build a relationship, connected only by blood and a love of the movies. Brazil is the vibrant backdrop as mother and daughter explore all the country has to offer, taking refuge from the intensity of the reunion in the darkness and anonymity of the cinema, and the drama of others. Like Brazil itself, Theresa proves to be full of contradictions and excessive tendencies. After a trip that was alternately shocking, hopeful, humorous and devastating, Priscila realizes that not only does she not love her mother, she viscerally dislikes her. What kind of woman does a motherless daughter become? Is it possible to recover from decades of absence, if both sides are willing? What traits do we inevitably share with our parents? And what is the consequence of a second rejection? PRISCILA UPPAL is the author of two novels, The Divine Economy of Salvation and To Whom It May Concern. An acclaimed poet whose work has been shortlisted for the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize, her works have been translated into numerous languages including Dutch, Greek, Korean, Latvian, Italian, and Serbo-Croatian.