If You Knew Suzy

“Katherine Rosman has a great gift for articulating the yearnings of daughterhood and the mysteries of motherhood.” — Jeffrey Zaslow, coauthor of The Last Lecture “Katherine Rosman’s voice rings with truth, pain, and hard-won humor as she reports from the heart in this bold, cathartic tale of a daughter’s search to find meaning in her mother’s death.... This book beats with a heart of its own.” — Janice Y.K. Lee, author of The Piano Teacher In lively, intimate prose, Wall Street Journal culture reporter Katherine Rosman reconnects with her late mother by reporting on the life she led outside of her roles as mom and wife. With a reporter's eye for detail and a daughter's need for truth, Rosman uncovers the woman she only thought she knew: Raw Honesty: Beginning with a post-mortem credit card spree, Rosman confronts grief with the same hard-won humor her mother, Suzy, lived with. Complex Mother-Daughter Relationships: An unflinching look at the "Bloomfield Triangle"—the vortex of shifting alliances and fierce loyalty between a mother and her two daughters. A Reporter's Notebook: How does a journalist honor her mother’s dying wish not to be written about? By breaking her promise in a search for catharsis and connection. Coping with Loss: A quest to understand a parent's private world, from her secret life in online communities of glass collectors to her devotion to Pilates, revealing the woman behind the mother.