About the Book
How would you be affected if your mother died giving you life? And how would such a loss affect your children? These questions are the foundation of many issues raised by the author, Nancy Owen Nelson, in her search for the missing pieces of a grandmother who in 1905 died giving the author's mother life, all told in her wonderful memoir, Searching for Nannie B. It was a tragedy that seemed to affect multiple generations, the voids in identity and ill-spent guilt flowing from the stream of blood that kept mother from daughter, and then from granddaughter. But it was a search well-spent.
The Reverend Roger Mohr, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Detroit, may have said it best. "Often the tapestry of family history does not seem to offer us the sort of clarity about who we have become, and why. And sometimes the narrative tells us a story about ourselves that we do not wish to accept." Nancy Owen Nelson's search resulted in raising more questions about herself, even as it answered questions about her mysterious grandmother. Nonetheless, in the end her journey toward discovery was one of startling self-awareness and connection. No matter whether you feel connected or lost in family, you will be unable to avoid the heartfelt pleasure and pain that comes from the author's brave attempt to connect three generations of Southern women.
About the Author :
NANCY OWEN NELSON was raised in a military family who visited their home state of Alabama yearly. Her father retired to Hartselle, Alabama in 1960. She has published articles in several academic journals and anthologies. She is co-editor of The Selected Letters of Frederick Manfred: 1932-1954 (University of Nebraska Press, 1989) and editor of Private Voices, Public Lives: Women Speak on the Literary Life (1995, University of North Texas Press) and The Lizard Speaks: Essays on the Writings of Frederick Manfred (the Center for Western Studies, 1998). She has a published poetry in the What Wildness is This? (University of Texas Press, March 2007) as well as in the South Dakota Review and Graffiti Rag and has creative nonfiction pieces in Mom's Writing Literary Journal (Fall, 2008), Lalitamba Journal, and Roll (Telling Our Stories Press, 2013). She is currently teaching writing in several colleges and conducts a memoir workshop for Springfed Arts (a Detroit literary/music organization).
Review :
SEARCHING FOR NANNIE B by Nancy Owen Nelson-2017 National Winner for the Family Book Category of the Book Excellence Awards and Semifinalist for the National Kindle Book Awards
How do our lost ancestors touch us? Do they inform our consciousness? Nelson's voice of longing permeates this account of her search for a relative she never knew, a grandmother who died in childbirth. The mystery of why little is known about Nelson's maternal grandmother colors this highly readable exploration of self--a questioning of names, motives, and voices so close to Nelson's heart.
Elaine Greensmith Jordan, M.A., M.Div. is the author of Mrs. Ogg Played the Harp: Memories of Church and Love in the High Desert
In Searching for Nannie B, readers follow a fascinating trail as Nancy Owen Nelson searches out the mystery of a gap in her own female linage, a grandmother who is never spoken of. The journey starts with her mother, the second Nannie B., then winds through real places and graves, through Ancestery.com, and through countless conversations as she tries to solve the enigma of the first Nannie B., her mother's mother. It is a trail that, at its end, cannot help but lead her to a better understanding of herself.
Susan Lang, author of the trilogy Small Rocks Rising
Nancy Owen Nelson's memoir, Searching for Nannie B, teaches us how to do family history and what we can learn from it. It is also a moving tale, simply told, of the everlasting connection between mothers and daughters. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Judith Hillman Paterson, author of Sweet Mystery: A Southern Memoir of Family Alcoholism, Mental Illness, and Recovery
Nancy Owen Nelson's memoir tells the story of three generations of amazing women whose lives are shaped, but not controlled, by early loss. Nelson's search for her grandmother's story touches the deep longing in all of us to discover who and whose we are. In the process, she discovers that the theological spectrum their life journeys span is shorter than she thought as she, Unitarian Universalist, is welcomed and embraced by the Primitive Baptist congregation where her grandmother worshiped.
My own adolescent years were enriched by friendship with Nancy and her Methodist mother. Her story evokes memories of early losses and the loving people who shaped my life. My hunch is it will do the same for other readers.
The Rev. Paige Maxwell McRight, Doctor of Ministry, Presbyterian minister, Consultant to pastors and presbyteries and proud high school classmate of the author
Nancy Owen Nelson's memoir, Searching for Nannie B, is an engrossing story of three generations of women, starting from a grandmother who died giving birth to Nelson's mother, also named Nannie B. In fascinating detail we come to understand the women, their culture, their values, and the impact the loss of one of them had on the others.
Nahid Rachlin, author of Persian Girls
How do our lost ancestors touch us? Do they inform our consciousness? Nelson's voice of longing permeates this account of her search for a relative she never knew, a grandmother who died in childbirth. The mystery of why little is known about Nelson's maternal grandmother colors this highly readable exploration of self--a questioning of names, motives, and voices so close to Nelson's heart.
Elaine Greensmith Jordan, M.A., M.Div. is the author of Mrs. Ogg Played the Harp: Memories of Church and Love in the High Desert
In Searching for Nannie B, readers follow a fascinating trail as Nancy Owen Nelson searches out the mystery of a gap in her own female linage, a grandmother who is never spoken of. The journey starts with her mother, the second Nannie B., then winds through real places and graves, through Ancestery.com, and through countless conversations as she tries to solve the enigma of the first Nannie B., her mother's mother. It is a trail that, at its end, cannot help but lead her to a better understanding of herself.
Susan Lang, author of the trilogy Small Rocks Rising
Nancy Owen Nelson's memoir, Searching for Nannie B, teaches us how to do family history and what we can learn from it. It is also a moving tale, simply told, of the everlasting connection between mothers and daughters. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Judith Hillman Paterson, author of Sweet Mystery: A Southern Memoir of Family Alcoholism, Mental Illness, and Recovery
Nancy Owen Nelson's memoir tells the story of three generations of amazing women whose lives are shaped, but not controlled, by early loss. Nelson's search for her grandmother's story touches the deep longing in all of us to discover who and whose we are. In the process, she discovers that the theological spectrum their life journeys span is shorter than she thought as she, Unitarian Universalist, is welcomed and embraced by the Primitive Baptist congregation where her grandmother worshiped.
My own adolescent years were enriched by friendship with Nancy and her Methodist mother. Her story evokes memories of early losses and the loving people who shaped my life. My hunch is it will do the same for other readers.
The Rev. Paige Maxwell McRight, Doctor of Ministry, Presbyterian minister, Consultant to pastors and presbyteries and proud high school classmate of the author
Nancy Owen Nelson's memoir, Searching for Nannie B, is an engrossing story of three generations of women, starting from a grandmother who died giving birth to Nelson's mother, also named Nannie B. In fascinating detail we come to understand the women, their culture, their values, and the impact the loss of one of them had on the others.
Nahid Rachlin, author of Persian Girls
