WOW! Women on Writing Presents
Don’t Let Me Keep You by Kathie Giorgio
Check out an author interview at The Muffin!
Motherhood is a symphony, from the first movement, through crescendo after crescendo, to the finale.
Hildy Halverson, a genius in math and science, is pushed by her parents to step into a male-dominated field and change the world for women. But Hildy, enamored of the scientific force of the human body, and her own body’s ability to create and sustain life, decides to go against contemporary expectations. She marries young and raises a houseful of kids.
Hildy wants her children to choose their own life paths. As each child is born, she tells them, “You can be whatever you want to be, and whatever you want to be will be great.” Despite her efforts to not influence her children, Hildy does so, often in unexpected ways. Each child is introduced in that first private moment between Hildy and her new baby. This is followed by a chapter revealing that child’s life, years later. Woven throughout is an underlying grief over the death of the sixth baby soon after birth. That grief is more pervasive than any of them expect.
In this ambitious novel, the struggles and joys, fatigue and exhilaration of motherhood, are captured in the full panorama of family life. Hildy lovingly raises her children, then lets them go, finding herself along the way.
Amazon | Black Rose Publishing | Barnes and Noble
Don’t Let Me Keep You is a lyrical meditation on motherhood seven times over, gestating, unfurling with rhythmic, poignant prose. Over decades we see each of the Halversons through the eyes of the others, bringing into sharp focus how differently each member can experience the same family. The way children protect their mothers, the way mothers remain children themselves, and what a mess we can still make of things despite our best intentions. That we can choose to love each other regardless of who we turn out to be, no matter what. –Maggie Ginsberg, author of Still True
Don’t Let Me Keep You follows a math prodigy’s unconventional and slightly obsessive journey through motherhood. Giorgio’s dynamic characters and complex emotional bonds turn this family saga into a propulsive page turner wherein motherhood as a career is an empowering choice. At once gritty, heartbreaking, and hopeful, Don’t Let Me Keep You shows the fallibility of the human condition through the haunting eyes of a mother’s love as she struggles with the age-old question, Am I a good mother? –Marisa Rae Dondlinger, author of Open and Come And Get Me
The thing I love about Kathie Giorgio’s books are the surprises. Her books are not like anyone’s. They are fresh, unique, and wonderful. Don’t Let Me Keep You is all that and more. This is a story about motherhood, childhood and family. Belonging, expectations, and the enduring power of love. Of course, because this is Kathie’s novel, there is poetry, and vignettes. A cast of characters worth knowing. And many opportunities to reflect on our lives as parents and children. I highly recommend Don’t Let Me Keep You. –Karen E. Osborne, Author of True Grace and Reckonings
With delightful finesse, author Kathie Giorgio weaves a flawless web of family love that weathers plenty of storms, but still comes out shimmering. –Mary Ann Noe, author of Water the Color of Slate
Add it to your Goodreads reading list
Kathie Giorgio is the author of a total of fifteen books: eight novels, two story collections, an essay collection, and four poetry collections. She’s been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in fiction and poetry and awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library Association, the Silver Pen Award for Literary Excellence, the Pencraft Award for Literary Excellence, and the Eric Hoffer Award In Fiction. Her poem “Light” won runner-up in the 2021 Rosebud Magazine Poetry Prize, and her work has also been incorporated into many visual art and musical events. Kathie is the director and founder of AllWriters’ Workplace & Workshop LLC, an international creative writing studio.
She lives with her husband, mystery writer Michael Giorgio, and their daughter Olivia, in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Three of her adult children, Christopher, Andy, and Olivia, live close by, along with her solo granddaughter, Maya Mae. One adult child has wandered off to Louisiana and lives among the mathematicians and alligators.
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
