Product Description

An intimate story of the author's journey as her mother -- an irrepressible Southern charm school owner -- moves into a retirement village. A tender romance accompanies this slice-of-life book. There are many hilarious scenes as the author brings readers into a series of new and sometimes mysterious experiences.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1441198 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-12
• Released on: 2006-12-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 130 pages

Review
"A wonderful book! Hill has huge talent...very sharp at the detail level, exceptionally deft dialogue, daring self-revelations...a magnificent job." -- Robert Franklin, founder of McFarland & Co., publishers

A profoundly moving work, worthy of national attention. A must read for all who will one day face the beautiful and yet painful final journey with their parents. ------New York Times best-selling author William Forstchen

A wonderful book! Hill has huge talent...very sharp at the detail level, exceptionally deft dialogue, daring self-revelations...a magnificent job. --Robert Franklin, founder of McFarland & Co., publishers

An observant, wry, loving and at times sentimental memoir about caring for her mother, an irrepressible Charlotte charm schoolteacher, during the last year of her mother's life. --Rob Neufield, Asheville Citizen Times

From the Publisher
The subject of the book, Troyanne Ross, was a prominent figure in Charlotte, N.C. in the 60s, 70s and 80s, as a frequent star in Little Theater productions, the owner of the city's first and longest-lasting modeling and charm school, Troyanne Ross Institute of Modeling, and one of the country's first weather women on WSOC-TV in Charlotte.

From the Author
"I want to take each reader gently by the hand and draw them close to the emotional decisions that arise when a parent is in fragile health. When a parent becomes sick, your world turns upside down. When their illness continues for a period of months, the strain on the family is tremendous, but there can also be time for emotional healing, which is a once-in-a-lifetime gift.

Customer Reviews

Deeply affecting memoir of a mother's passing
This memoir's clear, heartfelt writing touched me deeply. The author nearly had me crying several times as she traced the steady arc of her mother's gradual, challenging, and ultimately beautiful process of transitioning from body to Spirit. Hill also does an outstanding job of "showing, not telling," which put me right into the heart of her mother's transition and Hill's own varying responses to the process. I could detect no padding or fat; one of the book's great strengths is its Hemingwayesque economy of language. This also makes it a fairly quick read, which only serves to concentrate its emotional impact.

"My Name as a Prayer" is courageous, important and timely. It has the power to touch many hearts, enlighten many minds, and heal many souls. Hill is a truly gifted writer, and I loved this book!

Listening to the silence from the other side
My Name As A Prayer is a book you will want to read more than once, as I intend to do. But first I have to get copies to my sister and my sister-in-law, for I think this book will speak especially to mothers and daughters. However, as a former hospice volunteer and as someone who was present during the months my parents were dying and being cared for by hospice, I find that Sheridan Hill's book also has much to teach even those of us--male or female--who have already seen our parents or other loved ones pass on. I remember once when I was alone with a dying woman--or so I thought--and listening to her have a long conversation with unseen others in the room...and the peace it brought her. I could only hear her side of the conversation; there was only silence when she wasn't speaking, but it was surely "holy silence" wherein she could hear what she needed to hear, even though I couldn't. Sheridan Hill's thoughts on "holy silence" and the need to allow the dying to be present (i.e., not overly medicated) at their own deaths are insightful, I think, and worth the price of the book alone. Of course, simply being present, via the book, with Ms. Hill to hear her beautiful story is worth the price of the book, too.

Praise for My Name As A Prayer
Sheridan Hill combines the grace of storytelling with the immediacy of first-person narrative to share the true story of her mother's difficult transition into terminal illness and eventually death. The story is honest to the core and painfully familiar. Anyone who is preparing to guide a loved one through a similar transition, or who has done so in the past, will appreciate and learn from this honest, insightful memoir.