by Sally Field
First published 2018
Sally Field opens her life story with unflinching honesty. She takes readers from her television debut at seventeen through her transformation from Gidget's wholesome girl next door to the complex characters that earned her Academy Awards. Field describes her challenging childhood and the loneliness that shadowed her early years. She explains how acting became her way of finding her voice and expressing parts of herself she couldn't otherwise reveal. The memoir moves through her Hollywood career, showing both the triumphs and disappointments that came with fame. Field writes about her complicated relationship with her mother, exploring how that bond shaped her approach to her own children. She examines what it meant to be a woman navigating the entertainment industry during the second half of the twentieth century. Field's prose captures the vulnerability of the anxious child who still lives within the confident performer. The book reveals how her emotional experiences informed her craft and helped her connect with audiences across generations.
Genres: drama, autobiography, contemporary, memoir, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, self-discovery
Setting: Hollywood
Period: 20th-century
396 pages · Hardcover · Grand Central Publishing
Content warnings: anxiety, depression, mental-illness