The author Plum Johnson discusses her award-winning memoir, They Left Us Everything (Penguin, 2014), with Joseph Planta.

They Left Us Everything by Plum Johnson (Penguin, 2014). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: They Left Us Everything

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

Plum Johnson joins me now. Her memoir, They Left Us Everything was released last year to great acclaim, receiving the RBC Taylor Prize for excellence in literary non-fiction. The book recounts her growing up in a sprawling house in Oakville, Ontario, and years later when she and her brothers have to pack up and clean up a lifetime of memories, after their parents die. It’s twenty years from the time their father first needs care as he’s suffering from senility, his death, and their mother’s own death at the age of 93. So Ms. Johnson, who lives closest in Toronto, is caregiver to her parents, and when we start the book, the relationship is unraveling with her surviving parent, her feisty mother. At her death, it’s a mixture of relief and grief, and that ironic combination of feelings is worked through the book, as the author looks back at her life and her parents. Scenes of her family’s life are relived as Johnson moves into the house to tidy everything up. The book is funny, moving, and offers marvellous lessons worth heeding, whether you’ve got a lot of stuff, or you have elderly parents, or you want to understand life a little bit more. It’s just a great book. Plum Johnson is an author, artist and entrepreneur. She founded KidsCanada Publishing, and is the publisher of KidsToronto, and the co-founder of Help’s Here! The website for more is at www.plumjohnson.com. The book is published by Penguin. She joined me from her in Vancouver, last week while in town for appearances to promote the book. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Plum Johnson; Ms. Johnson, good morning.

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