Daughter of the Queen of Sheba: A Memoir

As an adult, National Public Radio foreign correspondent Jacki Lyden has spent her life on the front lines of some of the world's most dangerous war zones. As a child, she lived in a war zone of a different kind. Her mother, Dolores, suffered from what is now called manic-depression, but when Jacki was growing up in a small Midwestern town, Dolores was simply called crazy. In her manic phases, Dolores became Marie Antoinette or the Queen of Sheba, exotically delusional and frightening, yet to young Jacki also transcendent, often inspiring. In time, Jacki grew to accept, even relish, Dolores' bizarre episodes, marveling at her mother's creative energy and using it to fuel her own. Heartbreaking, hilarious, lyrical, this memoir of a mother-daughter relationship is testimony to obstinate devotion in the face of bewildering illness. Jacki recalls her youth with a child's aching regret and an adult's keen wisdom. Daughter of the Queen of Sheba is a compelling tale of two women with a scrappy genius for survival. 257 pages.