First published 2024
Whoopi Goldberg reflects on how her mother Emma Johnson shaped the woman who would become an entertainment icon. Emma raised her children in New York City housing projects with remarkable care and wisdom. She took them to Coney Island, museums, and the Ice Capades. She made every Christmas magical despite their financial struggles. Emma taught her children to be themselves and gave them confidence to pursue their dreams. When Emma died in 2010 and Whoopi's brother Clyde passed five years later, Whoopi felt profoundly alone. The only people who truly knew her were gone. In this memoir, Whoopi reveals personal family stories she has never shared publicly. She explores how Emma managed to provide such an enriching childhood while facing traumatic challenges that Whoopi only understood as an adult. The book celebrates three people who loved each other deeply and shows how Emma's guidance transformed Caryn Johnson into Whoopi Goldberg.
Genres: family, autobiography, memoir, biography-memoir, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family
Setting: Coney Island, New York City, New York Housing Projects
Period: 2010, 2015
256 pages · Hardcover · Blackstone Publishing, Inc.