Living in Two Worlds: A Memoir

Living in Two Worlds is a story of love, loss, and reflection. Vivian, born to an American mother and Chilean father, has an idyllic childhood in her father's country. With her beloved abuelita (grandmother), her siblings and cousins, and their grandparents' fundo (large ranch), she enjoys a rich sense of family and long summers of fun.

But what of all that her mother gave up in the United States? We find out, as the illness of Vivian's sister takes mother and children abruptly back to California-without Papa. From there displacement, grief, and resentments drive Vivian's search for identity and belonging.

Tia Sylvia sheds light on the complexity of the parents' predicament; and Vivian's own memories, dreams, imagination, and introspection piece together an understanding that gives perspective on, and appreciation for, the past.

"In Living in Two Worlds, Pisano unpacks, with sensitivity and imagination, a fraught mother/daughter relationship. This lyrically evocative memoir is gracefully told." -Anna Rabkin, author of From Krakow to Berkeley: Coming out of Hiding