Publication
New York : Simon & Schuster, 2002.
Collection
Call number
Biography C
Status
Available
Call number
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Nonfiction. HTML:Angela's Ashes comes home to the Bronx in a brilliant, touching, charming, and bittersweet account of a childhood during the Depression from America's Queen of Suspense. Mary Higgins Clark's memoir begins with the death of her father in 1939. With no money in the house�??the Higgins Bar and Grill in the Bronx is failing and in debt, and worry about it is one of the things that has killed her father�??Mary's indomitable Irish mother (she devotes a chapter to her "Wild Irish Mother") puts a classified ad in the Bronx Home News: "Furnished rooms! Kitchen Privileges!" Very shortly there arrives the first in a succession of tenants who will change the lives of the Higgins family and set the young Mary on her start as a writer, while bringing to them all a dose of the Christmas spirit that seemed to have vanished with Mr. Higgins's death. Full of hope, faith, memorable characters, and warmth, Kitchen Privileges brings back into sharp, nostalgic focus the feeling of growing up poor, but determined to survive, in a vanished Bronx that was one of white lace curtains instead of a slum, and at a time when everybody was poor and either needed or offered a helping… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member turtlesleap
Clark's memoir is very brief but paints a vivid picture of growing up in a close-knit, affluent, Irish Catholic family in the Bronx during th 30's and 40's. This is a highly readable memoir. The writer is kind in her memories of people and events and her own drive and energy, while not particularly
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emphasized, are unmistakeable and impressive. Show Less
LibraryThing member laws
I am a big fan of Mary Higgins Clake and I enjoy her books. When I came across this book at my library , I was just delighted to find out more about the author and her life. Mary went through many heartaches during her life esp. the loss of her Dad,age 54, and the death of her husband ,Warren. Mary
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pointed the many tradegies in her life including being a Stewardess for Pan AM Airlines, marriage, kids, widowhood, writng, and remarriage.MHC never up and went on to become one the best Mystery Writers in her genre. Show Less
LibraryThing member fsmichaels
A memoir of another time. Clark lived through the Great Depression as a child. Always interesting to see how the world has changed over the past almost-100 years through the eyes of someone who paid attention, and to see how someone got to where they are now.
LibraryThing member lostinalibrary
Kitchen Privileges is the memoir of Mary Higgins Clark, the mystery writer. More than a connected story, it seems like small vignettes from her life. It begins in her childhood around the time of her father's death and ends with her third marriage in 1996.
Hers is a story full of many tragedies yet
Whether you are a fan of her mysteries or memoirs or just want a story full of love and laughter, this is definitely a book worth reading.
Hers is a story full of many tragedies yet
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her love of life and marvelous sense of humour shine through every page. I notice others mention that she could have spent more time on her writing but I think this story is perfect the way it is. She clearly loved to write but, more than that, she loves her family, her friends, life. it seems only right that she should start the story with the death of the first man she loved and end it with the last. Whether you are a fan of her mysteries or memoirs or just want a story full of love and laughter, this is definitely a book worth reading.
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LibraryThing member klockrike
Boring. Sorry, I am sure you all readers of Mary Higgins Clark want to love this book, but it is not what you expect. It is shallow, without detail, full of expectated things and truly boring. Sorry, I tried to love this book, but it never came to life.
LibraryThing member BookConcierge
She may be the queen of suspense, but Clark's autobiography is only okay. She's led an interesting life and she is discreet, but I thought it would be more about her childhood, and it wasn't.
LibraryThing member dorisannn
I absolutely loved this book. Mary Higgins Clark was not looking for sympathy, but instead wrote a book filled with more laughter than tears. Just the bare outlines of her life could lend itself to a "poor me" tragedy, but she keeps it light and while I shed a few tears most of them were from
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laughing. She wrote of her second marriage which lasted seven years that it was a disaster. That's it. Mary just kept on writing, taking care of her five children and being a great success while maintaining her modesty as prescribed by her family and the "good Sisters" who taught her. Thanks for all the entertainment you have given to your readers, Mary. Show Less
LibraryThing member christinejoseph
her memoir —
she was rich, had tragedy ok read
In her long-awaited memoir, Mary Higgins Clark, America's beloved and bestselling Queen of Suspense, recounts the early experiences that shaped her as a person and influenced her as a writer. Even as a young girl, growing up in the Bronx, Mary Higgins
she was rich, had tragedy ok read
In her long-awaited memoir, Mary Higgins Clark, America's beloved and bestselling Queen of Suspense, recounts the early experiences that shaped her as a person and influenced her as a writer. Even as a young girl, growing up in the Bronx, Mary Higgins
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Clark knew she wanted to be a writer. The gift of storytelling was a part of her Irish ancestry, so it followed naturally that she would later use her sharp eye, keen intelligence, and inquisitive nature to create stories about the people and things she observed. Show Less
LibraryThing member nx74defiant
I learned a lot about Mary Higgins Clark.
She was a stewardess. She wrote for the radio. Her husband Warren's early death. It was very interesting.
She was a stewardess. She wrote for the radio. Her husband Warren's early death. It was very interesting.
LibraryThing member etxgardener
Mary Higgins Clark is one of those novelists who churns out 1-2 books every yer and continues to do so even though she is now 90.
This is a memoir of her life growing up in the Bronx, her school days and how she became a writer. It's a pleasant talw, but tehre is nothing here that's very dramatic,
This is a memoir of her life growing up in the Bronx, her school days and how she became a writer. It's a pleasant talw, but tehre is nothing here that's very dramatic,
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and it almost seems like after making tons of money for her publisher, they let her do this book as a vanity project. Show Less
LibraryThing member mumstheword
Sketchy bio of best selling author.
Awards
Agatha Award (Nominee — Non-Fiction — 2002)
Language
Original publication date
2001
ISBN
0743206053 / 9780743206051