Monster & The Daughter Who Loved Her

MONSTER & THE DAUGHTER WHO LOVED HER: a true story

by Linda Ford Ayres

This book is about being raised by a cunning, mentally ill mother and a father in denial, and

my road from hate and distrust to understanding, sympathy, love, and ultimately unexpected

forgiveness. Written with voices alternating between my own voice and my mother's voice, her

mental illness becomes more fascinating than terrifying and mystifying. Strangely, I was her

confidant. I had access to her thoughts, plans, deeds, and disturbed reasoning behind what

usually would be seen from a moral point of view only as evil.

My story begins with my first memory...my mother stomping my turtle with her foot until

she killed it. My mother's voice begins with her belief that she died in childbirth which resulted

in her trip to heaven and back, the Virgin Mary having given me to her to raise on earth. I

brought my mother the only joy she had ever known until I went to school where her sadism

worsened and escalated to her attempt at murdering me in my sleep at age eighteen as I was

about to graduate from nursing school.

Leaving Ray, the boy I had fallen in love with, I escaped to San Francisco and studied

creative writing, supporting myself as a nurse. I "dropped" acid, ending my faith in the only

solace I had left, the Virgin Mary. Falsely accused of killing a patient, my depression deepened,

landing me in a locked-down psychiatric ward and released to psychotherapy. "I wanted to save

lives like Dr. Bauer had saved mine." I returned to graduate school and became a successful

psychotherapist in New York City for many years.

I married, adopted my son, and divorced when he was three. I eventually did marry Ray,

the boy I deserted forty-nine years before, who had retired as a Marine three-star general.

In the end, my mother and I made our peace. "Just like love, and maybe even because of it,

forgiveness mysteriously just happened."

Author: Linda Ford Ayres
Publisher: Publisher Client Services
Published: 05/21/2025
Pages: 170
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.58lbs
Size: 8.25h x 5.50w x 0.46d
ISBN: 9798992012026

About the Author
Ayres, Linda Ford: - Linda Ford Ayres holds degrees in Nursing, Creative Writing, and Social Work. She is the co-author of "Godless Grace: How Nonbelievers are Making the World Safer, Richer and Kinder", under her former name Linda Ford Blaikie, L.C.S.W., published by Humanist Press, 2015. "The East Hampton Star's" Memoir section selected a short piece of hers entitled "Red Satin Comfort" for publication in 2018. In addition, one of her case histories was recently included in an important psychological journal."Monster & The Daughter Who Lover Her: a true story", began as a staged reading entitled "Crazy, Beauty, Truth", performed at The Laurie Beechman Theater in Manhattan. Lynn Cohen was the actor who player her mother. Elizabeth Canavan played Linda. Retired from her private psychotherapy practice in midtown Manhattan, she is pursuing her life-long passion for storytelling. She is certain that if we share our stories with others it will make the world a less lonely place to live in.Linda welcomes your feedback at LindaFordAyres@gmail.com.