PAPER DOLLHOUSE

Moving debut memoir from obstetrician Masterson, who co-hosts the Emmy Award–winning TV show The Doctors.

With her 3-year-old daughter in tow and little money in her pocket, the author’s mother moved from Haynesville, La., to Seattle to pursue a job teaching English at the University of Washington. Masterson's mother and grandmother were university-educated teachers, but in 1970s Louisiana, the lives of black people were still heavily circumscribed. Despite scrimping and saving and advancement up the career ladder in a succession of government jobs, her mother could not afford her daughter's tuition without the help of a series of men who supplied the extras. “I knew her humanity, good, bad, and ugly,” the author writes. “She was my hero, but I knew her as a real person, perfect in her imperfection.” Driven to make her mother proud, Masterson thrived in elementary and secondary school, always at the top of her class, but when she left home to attend college, her life threatened to spiral out of control as she experimented with sex and alcohol. Pulling herself together, she decided to pursue a career in medicine. Her mother died of cancer when the author was 28, but her unconditional love and belief in her daughter continues to inspire her with unwavering confidence.

An inspiring account of challenges faced and overcome, not only as a child but as a physician, mother, TV celebrity and the guiding spirit behind the Maternal Fetal Care International foundation, which she founded.