When we last encountered Stephanie Land and her daughter in her memoir “Maid” they are ascending a mountain in Montana. We, the readers, see that moment as one of hard-won hope.
Land has already reckoned with an abusive partner, single motherhood, relentless poverty, the struggle to support her daughter and memories of a sometimes-violent childhood.
Montana shimmers on the horizon as a place of self-discovery and reinvention.
Land’s new memoir, “Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and High Education” tells the story of starting over, persevering and fulfilling promises she made to herself in Missoula.
As she did “Maid,” which was turned into a powerful Netflix series, Land tells stories of how hunger changes a person, how it shapes an individual and family identity in a way that is not well understood.
Even her young daughter absorbs that.
Land writes: “Food insecurity ruled our lives and Emilia knew that it was somehow 'bad' if she didn’t like something I served her. “
— Kerri Miller | MPR News |
