Bethanie Gorny

"The Ambivalent Daughter: Memoir of a Conflicted Caregiver" is a compelling memoir that will resonate with adult children caring for their aging parents and those who know their turn may come. When her octogenarian mother suffers a severe stroke and moves to a nursing home, Bethanie becomes the person responsible for overseeing all her care. Bethanie tries to combat the three plagues of nursing homes: boredom, loneliness, and depression. She visits her mother daily. The two women have never gotten along which adds to the stress. Bethanie describes experiencing guilt, depression, and exhaustion, but also expresses gratitude for the concentrated time she had with her mother that allowed them to get to know and understand each other better. She details some of the problems she encountered in the nursing home including not enough staff and an emphasis on medical needs without addressing the emotional needs of the residents. A page turner, it is an engrossing story of two women dealing with a crisis that affects their lives and the lives of their family members. A compassionate, yet unsentimental look at caregiving for elderly parents, a scenario that is fast becoming almost a rite of passage. "..Convincing and powerful"--Kirkus Reviews.

Her first book was "Fridays with Eva: Learning and Caring for My Mother-in-Law a Holocaust Survivor." She became interested in Holocaust survivors and their children as a result of her interaction with her husband, Jack, a second-generation survivor, and her mother-in-law, Eva. Her interest in the large population of survivors living in southern New Jersey (her former home) expanded when she became involved with more of them through Jewish Family Services of Atlantic and Cape May County. Her essays and stories have appeared in Jewish Fiction.net, Florida Writer magazine, The Wild Word Journal, and other publications. It is her hope that "Fridays with Eva" will shed light on the experience of the Holocaust survivor population after their immigration to America and also present a warm, loving portrait of a special relationship between a caregiver and an elderly relative.

Bethanie Gorny lives in Boynton Beach Florida. Her essays and short stories have appeared in Jewish Fiction.net, Florida Writer Magazine, The Wild Word Journal, Mc Sweeney's online, and other publications. She is a retired educator with a doctorate in education. She enjoys reading, running book clubs, golfing, and writing.