After the Falls: Coming of Age in the Sixties - Hardcover

Catherine Gildiner has been in private practice in clinical psychology for nearly twenty years. She writes a monthly advice column for Chatelaine, a popular Canadian magazine, and contributes regularly to countless other Canadian newspapers and magazines. She lives in Toronto with her husband and three sons.

In this follow-up to Gildiner’s first memoir, Too Close to the Falls (2001), which became a surprise best-seller, she details the family’s move from small-town Lewiston, New York, to a Buffalo suburb. Used to working side-by-side with her father in the family pharmacy from the age of four, she now must refocus her considerable energy into fitting in with her peers. But once she conquers the clique of popular girls, which takes her little more than two months, she moves on to land a job in a gritty, working-class doughnut shop, which she almost burns to the ground. The second half of her memoir deals with her experiences at Ohio State University, where she enters into a romance with a black football player and becomes involved in civil rights work, which leads to a frightening encounter with the FBI. Her relationship with her father, once so close, becomes frayed until she realizes he is suffering from a severe health issue that requires her help. Throughout, the author’s offbeat attitude, born of her unusual upbringing and wide-ranging experiences, proves to be charming, amusing, and even inspirational. --Joanne Wilkinson