title: My Dead Parents: A Memoir
author:  Anya Yurchyshyn 
description: <b>Named one of "The 20 Best New Books to Read in March" by <i>PopSugar</i><br />Named one of The Million's Most Anticipated Books of 2018<br /><br />Praise for <i>My Dead Parents</i>:</b><br /><br />"Sharp and searching...The book grapples with the limits of what we can know of each other and is a potent look at the fraught, painful, and complicated relationship between parents and children, and the mysteries  revelatory, difficult  that can and cannot be solved and the ongoing nature of how we come to know the people closest to us, and ourselves."<br /><b> <i>Boston Globe</i></b><br /><br />"When Anya Yurchyshyn became an orphan at 32, she didn't like her parents very much. Then she stumbled upon a trove of documents that helped her see them in a whole new light... She had only seen her parents as a bitter, angry couple, but torrid love letters proved the opposite was true...Yurchyshyn's journey left her with the biggest revelation of all: She finally felt some respect for her parents and was able to forgive them."<br /><b> <i>New York Post</i></b><br /><br />"Yurchyshyn allows her readers to experience her bewildering discoveries much as she did...What she learns does not erase her experiences, but it brings up better memories, of times they were fun and generous, and allows her to accept them, love them and grieve."<br /><b> Shelf Awareness</b><br /><br />Yurchyshyns first book, a memoir of her relationship with her parents before and after their deaths, examines the idea that children can never fully understand the depth and dimension of their parentsIn this beautifully written, poignant, honest, and unflinching work, the author takes readers with her on her journey through grief and discovery as she finds out  for good or ill  who her parents really wereAn inviting debut that is highly recommended to readers with an interest in memoir, narrative nonfiction, and family history.<br /><b> <i>Library Journal</i> (starred review)</b><br /><br />"This is a fascinating and insightful memoir about how relationships evolve and change, even after death.<br /><b> <i>Publishers Weekly</i></b><br /><br />Searching and intense, Yurchyshyn's book is not only a heartfelt examination of parent-child relationships; it is also an unsentimental interrogation of the complex nature of family love. A probing and candid memoir.<br /><b><i> Kirkus</i></b><br /><br />This candid and redemptive memoir shows the fallibility of family and how perception can change everything.<br /><b> <i>Booklist</i></b><br /><br /><i>My Dead Parents</i> is a gripping, novelistic page-turner about a couple whose love collapsed into grief and pain, and the daughter who, while sorting through the mess they left behind, found something wholly unexpected. We all wish we could understand who our parents were before we existed, especially if their lives or deaths were shrouded in mystery. In this remarkable, unflinching work of art, Anya Yurchyshyn comes closer than anyone else ever has to achieving that impossible goal. <br /> <b> EMILY GOULD,author of </b><i><b>Friendship</b><br /><br /></i>In the heartwrenching <i>My Dead Parents</i>, Anya Yurchyshyn has reckoned with the most fundamental of human relationships  husband and wife, parent and child  and in so doing forces us to reconsider our own personal narratives of family. Beautifully told, this is a story that will stay with you long after you turn the final page.<br /> <b> DOREE SHAFRIR, author of <i>Startup</i></b><i><br /></i>
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  This is a work of fiction; the names, characters, incidents, and places are
  the product of the author’s thoughts and imagination. Therefore, any
  resemblance or any similarity to actual people, either living or dead,
  environments, or events is coincidental.
  
  
  Text copyright © 2018 by Safa Shaqsy
  
  
  All rights reserved.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  DEDICATION
  
  
  To my mother.
  
  
  I love you.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Table of Contents
  
  
  Author’s Note
  
  
  Prologue
  
  
  Chapter One
  
  
  Chapter Two
  
  
  Chapter Three
  
  
  Chapter Four
  
  
  Chapter Five
  
  
  Chapter Six
  
  
  Chapter Seven
  
  
  Chapter Eight
  
  
  Chapter Nine
  
  
  Chapter Ten
  
  
  Chapter Eleven
  
  
  Chapter Twelve
  
  
  Chapter Thirteen
  
  
  Chapter Fourteen
  
  
  Chapter Fifteen
  
  
  Chapter Sixteen
  
  
  Chapter Seventeen
  
  
  Chapter Eighteen
  
  
  Chapter Nineteen
  
  
  Chapter Twenty
  
  
  Chapter Twenty-One
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  