Where You End and I Begin: A Memoir | Leah McLaren

When her daughter is eight, Leah McLaren's mother abruptly fled her life as rural house wife in search a glamorous career in the city. In the chaotic years that follow, Cecily lurches from one apartment, job and toxic romance to the next. In a home without rules or emotional boundaries, Leah and Cecily become confidants--a state of enmeshment that suits them both. Their bond is loving but also marked by casual indifference. Cecily's self-described parenting style of "benign neglect" is a hilarious party joke, but for her daughter it's reality. In Leah's first year of high school, Cecily makes a disclosure that will forever alter their relationship: From 12 to 15, Cecily confides, she was the lover of her 45-year-old married pony club instructor. The trauma of the "Horseman," she explains, is the reason for all her ill-conceived life choices, including marriage and motherhood itself which she now bitterly regrets. For years after, into adulthood, Leah is haunted by the specter of the Ho