Between Them

From American master Richard Ford, a memoir: his first work of nonfiction, a stirring narrative of memory and parental love How is it that we come to consider our parents as people with rich and intense lives that include but also exclude us? Richard Ford's parents—Edna, a feisty, pretty Catholic-school girl with a difficult past; and Parker, a sweet-natured, soft-spoken traveling salesman—were rural Arkansans born at the turn of the twentieth century. Married in 1928, they lived “alone together” on the road, traveling throughout the South. Eventually they had one child, born late, in 1944. For Ford, the questions of what his parents dreamed of, how they loved each other and loved him become a striking portrait of American life in the mid-century. Between Them is his vivid image of where his life began and where his parents' lives found their greatest satisfaction. Bringing his celebrated candor, wit, and intelligence to this most intimate and mysterious of landscapes—our parents' lives—the award-winning storyteller and creator of the iconic Frank Bascombe delivers an unforgettable exploration of memory, intimacy, and love.
How does a son piece together the lives his parents lived before him, and the private life they lived only between themselves?

Richard Ford is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the Bascombe novels and the New York Times bestselling Canada and Let Me Be Frank with You. He is the author of the renowned short story collections Rock Springs and A Multitude of Sins. Ford is the 2016 recipient of the Asturias Award for Literature in Spain, and he lives in East Boothbay, Maine with his wife, Kristina Ford.