Elissa Altman Knihy

Rita, an overreaching, makeup-addicted, narcissistic Manhattan singer couldn't be more different from Elissa, her gay, taciturn New England writer daughter. Stuck in an outrageous maelstrom of codependency, mother and daughter cannot seem to extricate themselves from the center of each other's lives. This is their story, built on the ferocity of mother-daughter love, moral obligation, and the possibility and promise of healing. -- adapted from publisher info

In this kaleidoscopic memoir, Elissa Altman tells the story of tradition, expectations, religion and rule-breaking that defined her childhood, from the dinner table to the synagogue to the bedrooms of her apartment building. Spanning from 1940s wartime Brooklyn to 1960s and '70s Queens to present day rural New England, Treyf is a story of contradiction, hope, betrayal and one family's relentless yearning for acceptance; it is a vivid tale of what it means to find yourself both in spite of, and in honour to, your past.