In 1950s Los Angeles, Anne Ford was the epitome of the California golden girl, a former beauty queen and model-turned-fashion-designer whose success and charm were legendary. So how is it possible that such a woman could die in squalor, an alcoholic street person brutally murdered in a burned-out West Hollywood building? In searching for answers to the heartbreaking trajectory of her mother's life, writer Laurel Saville plumbed the depths of Anne's troubled past and her own eccentric childhood to untangle the truth of an exceptional, yet tragic, existence.

What she discovered was a woman who was beautiful, well-educated, and talented - yet tormented by internal demons and no match for the hedonistic culture of Southern California in the 1960s and 1970s.

With unflinching honesty and stirring compassion, Saville explores how what we bring forward from previous generations can shape our own lives, and how compassion and love for a difficult parent can be a person's bridge to a better life.