How to Forget: A Daughter's Memoir

Kate Mulgrew

May 2019 · HarperAudio · Narrated by Kate Mulgrew

About this audiobook

In this profoundly honest and examined memoir about returning to Iowa to care for her ailing parents, the star of Orange Is the New Black and bestselling author of Born with Teeth takes us on an unexpected journey of loss, betrayal, and the transcendent nature of a daughter’s love for her parents.

They say you can’t go home again. But when her father is diagnosed with aggressive lung cancer and her mother with atypical Alzheimer’s, New York-based actress Kate Mulgrew returns to her hometown in Iowa to spend time with her parents and care for them in the time they have left.

The months Kate spends with her parents in Dubuque—by turns turbulent, tragic, and joyful—lead her to reflect on each of their lives and how they shaped her own. Those ruminations are transformed when, in the wake of their deaths, Kate uncovers long-kept secrets that challenge her understanding of the unconventional Irish Catholic household in which she was raised.

Breathtaking and powerful, laced with the author’s irreverent wit, How to Forget is a considered portrait of a mother and a father, an emotionally powerful memoir that demonstrates how love fuses children and parents, and an honest examination of family, memory, and indelible loss.

Ratings and reviews

Unbelievably profound and provocative. I was drawn into her book her words her life her family's life within the first sentence and I felt privileged to be allowed this experience. Listening to the beginning of her parents life together, I could very much relate to her hunger to want to know from her father what drew him into her mother, for this was the very same interest that I was curious about with my own father. I found with Kate's book her words, answers that I sort after but never was able to find with my own Father. It was witty and was sad it was profound, provocative,yet so carefully written, and so BEAUTIFULLY read. From the first word to the last I was drawn in. This is a book that I cannot wait to reccoment to anybody and everybody that will listen to go out and buy. Then get a drink and then get comfortable and settle in for a wonderfully gratterfying read. Thankyou thankyou thankyou.

wonderful! Kate Mulgrew is not only a brilliant actresd and dtiry teller but a pleasure to listen to.

About the author

Kate Mulgrew, a native of Dubuque, Iowa, is an actress and author with an extensive career on stage and screen. From her start as Mary Ryan, the lead role on the popular soap opera Ryan's Hope to the groundbreaking first female starship captain on Star Trek: Voyager to her acclaimed performance as Galina ""Red"" Reznikov on Netflix's smash hit Orange Is The New Black, Kate brings a formidable presence and deep passion to all her projects. Her 2016 book, Born With Teeth, allowed her to add ""New York Times bestselling author"" to her resume.