BROKEN WATER

Debut author Lane offers a memoir of a divided family.

The author and her biological sister, Kay, grew up in foster care in the 1950s and 1960s. Their lives in St. Louis County, Missouri, with Bernard and Leonarda Pisciotta were far from ideal, as Bernard abused the girls. The sisters’ time with the Pisciottas is, however, just the beginning of the story. The siblings had nine other sisters with whom they had lost contact when they were placed into foster care. What happened to their sisters? What would make their parents give up on 11 children? In 1997, at the age of 46, the author set about answering the first question. She discovered that all of the sisters were still alive and that all were eager to meet. The hard part came later: the task of unraveling what had happened to their family. Each of the sisters had her own story to tell. All seemed to have endured hardships. Many gave accounts of abuse in the orphanage and foster-care systems. They also had different views of their mother and father: While one recollected a mother who was hardworking, another found her to be a complete disaster. Did their mother really leave her daughters home alone for three days until social services intervened? The story of their father proves to be equally clouded. Who was this man who ended up buried without a headstone in a Tennessee cemetery? As the author learned more about her sisters, she came to find that some of them were in failing health, and death and illness factor into the later chapters.

As an experienced ministerial counselor, the author has helped others through similar situations, and she maintains a positive tone throughout. Although it is not always easy for the reader to keep track of so many siblings, the text makes for a unique and intriguing family story. What drives two parents to give up their children? What are the repercussions of such an act? Why did they have so many kids to begin with? The answers to these questions are rarely simple and often troubling. Some of the author’s descriptions are not particularly illustrative; individuals in her recollections are often simply declared “beautiful,” such as one sister who was “beautiful with a thick head of dark, curly hair.” Other sections veer somewhat off topic, as when the author recalls a medical miracle she experienced. Yet the story keeps the reader engaged from chapter to chapter, eager to see what the next sister will remember about her parents. The fact that “memories can be distorted” only adds to the intrigue. A newspaper photo from the 1950s shows the author’s biological parents and most of their children; everyone in the picture seems fine. The attempt to piece together what shattered it all makes for a compelling detective story of sorts.

A distinctive, haunting tale of family, loss, and hope.