South Mountain Road: A Daughter's Journey of Discovery

Hesper Anderson vividly reconstructs her childhood memories for the reader with clarity and exquisite detail. Her story is one of a remarkable, sensitive girl as she traverses her precarious journey of childhood. The daughter of playwright Maxwell Anderson, Hesper was surrounded by the rich and famous. Her anecdotes of Rex Harrison, Ingrid Bergman, Marlin Brando and many others are skillfully woven into her story, giving the reader a sense of the uniqueness of growing up on South Mountain Road. Personally, I was touched by the generosity with which the author shares intimate details of her life. Her struggle to understand herself within the context of her famous family is rich with the irony of life in a fishbowl. Her book is a thoughtful, well-written reflection on life, relationships, and what really matters. I loved this book.

I read this book in one afternoon. I couldn't put it down. It was moving, powerful and beautifully written. The story grips you from the first word and keeps you connected until the last page is turned (and then you want more!). I think everyone should read this book.

Hesper Anderson's lovely memoir, "South Mountain Road" is a riviting read. It is populated with a cornocopia of famous names ranging from the author's father, noted playwright Maxwell Anderson to Kurt Weill, Lotte Lenya, Marlon Brando, Katherine Hepburn, Burgess Meredith, and many more. But what makes this so interesting is that all of these luminaries are mere extras in the story of Anderson and her on-going struggle to know and understand her parents. This is must reading whether you are interested in the private lives of public people or simply someone who has sought the acceptance and love of your parents.

Hesper Anderson is a fascinating story-teller as well as an insightful memoirist. Her complex and rippingly painful story lets us inside her memory bank and takes us willingly along her path to adulthood, stepping behind the scenes of American celebrity into the complicated minds and hearts of her famous family and their glittering social set. Far more than a chronical of Maxwell Anderson's stunning career and her beautiful and fragile mother's suicide, it is Hesper Anderson's own very personal story of love, loss, betrayal and self-redemption.

This is a wonderful memoir, beautifully written. It would be fascinating even if Hesper's family and friends had not been glamorous New York theatre celebrities. Despite the sadness of the story, you will wish (almost) that you could have grown up just the way she did.