New memoir explores complexities of motherhood

Writer to Speak in Greenpoint

April 29, 2015 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Melissa Cistaro will appear at WORD Bookstore in Greenpoint on May 26 in celebration of her new memoir “Pieces of My Mother.” Photo by Adam Karsten

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Why would a mother ever abandon her children? Is an abandoned child destined to grow up and make the same mistake? These are some of the questions Melissa Cistaro had after her mother abandoned her young family. Melissa and her two brothers were all under the age of 5 when they watched their mother drive off one summer without explanation — only to flit in and out of their lives as the timing and situation suited her.

“Pieces of My Mother” (Sourcebooks) is Cistaro’s new memoir detailing her quest to discover what drives a mother to abandon her children by choice. The author will visit Brooklyn for a launch event on May 26 at WORD Bookstore in Greenpoint (at 7 p.m., also featuring Sarah Tomlinson, author of “Good Girl.”)

“Pieces of My Mother” alternates from Cistaro’s childhood and tumultuous coming-of-age to the present day where she spends six days by her dying mother’s beside, longing for answers. Then she discovers a file labeled “Letters Never Sent.”

As she reads through the unsent letters, Cistaro begins to bring together missing pieces of her childhood with the hopes of finally understanding why her mother left.

And as a mother herself, Melissa looks to answer an even bigger question — what kind of mother does she become?