The Mighty Queens of
Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter, and the Town That Raised Them
Amy Dickinson
Reviewed by Jenny Salyers
For Amy Dickinson, family is her cornerstone. After becoming a single
mother to a toddler, Amy found herself moving back from London to
Freeville, New York to mend her broken heart. It was with the help of
her unusual family of single mothers and strong independent women that
Amy was able to find a new direction for her life while officially
becoming a single mother.
As she moves away from Freeville to Washington DC, Amy finds herself
returning to her hometown, and the advice of her supportive family.
These strong, independent women provide Amy with advice, love, and help
when needed to pick up the pieces of her life and make them whole
again. The book spans the years from Amy’s divorce to her daughter
going away to college. Well known advice columnist Amy Dickinson
shares the many triumphs and failures that she has witnessed over the
past twenty years.
The book is divided into topics of interest in the author’s life. These
range from subjects such as divorce, becoming a single mother
with and without a support net, gaining pets, seeing your child through
the teen years and dating as an older adult. Each new topic
explored has a tendency to jump back to the time before/leading up to
the divorce and expanding forwards through the years. I found it a
little confusing at first. However I found myself drawn into Amy
Dickinson’s story.
As someone who lived in Chicago when Ann Landers passed away, I
remember the hype surrounding the search for her replacement. I’ve read
a few of Amy’s column’s. I am more familiar with her work on the
NPR programs that she participates on though. It was because of this
semi-familiarity that I jumped on the chance to read this book. I
wasn’t sure what to expect. I found a wonderfully sweet memoir of
the years leading up to Amy Dickinson’s jump into fame. I think that’s
what endeared me most about the book. The author focuses on her family,
and her life at the time rather than how she became important.
This is a book that I am going to pass along to my own mother. It is a
book that I think she will be able to relate to, as a divorced single
mother, and will hopefully enjoy.