All the Lost Girls: Confessions of a Southern Daughter

by Patricia Foster

Book Overview

Winner of the PEN/Jerard Fund Award

Patricia Foster's lyrical yet often painful memoir explores the life of a white middle-class girl who grew up in rural south Alabama in the 1950s and 1960s, a time and place that did not tolerate deviation from traditional gender roles. Her mother raised Foster and her sister as "honorary boys," girls with the ambition of men but the temperament of women.

An unhappy, intelligent woman...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081731248X
• ISBN13: 9780817312480
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: University Alabama Press
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Easing Expectations of Wonder Woman

Not a children's book -- including sibling rape early on -- Foster's autobiography rings true to all women -- especially Southern women and, even more so, the Southern woman reared in the 1950s. Foster reveals the struggle of the maturing Southern belle, expected to nurture the socially-expected assets of the charm school graduate as she beomes a formidable competitor in a man's world. Fearlessly, Foster airs her own familial dirty laundry as she offers understanding to those still carrying unnecessary luggage.

Award Winner for Book Design

This book has won a Southern Books Competition Award of Merit in Book Design from the Southeastern Library Association. This award is given in recognition of the book's aesthetic appeal and design and for fine craftsmanship in its printing and binding. Congratulations to author Patricia Foster, designer Michele Myatt Quinn, printer Thomson-Shore, and the University of Alabama Press.

Amazing new book

In All the Lost Girls, Patricia Foster has written an incredibly lyrical and brilliantly insightful book about growing up in the South. The writing is sheer poetry, and the story is captivating and powerful. With this memoir, Foster has proven herself to be one of the most talented writers of our time.

Best of the Best

Patricia Foster has taken us into the intimacy of her family and made us feel not like strangers but like we too are a part of that amazingly complex, intelligent, and creative group of people. I am certain that it was not easy to write in such a revealing way because Southern women are taught that if you don't talk about problems they will go away and no one will ever know. I found it extremely brave of Foster to break that mold and come forward with facts that exposed not only herself but her mother as well. After all, what makes her admired mother tick was one of the best kept secrets in town! I feel that Patricia Foster's writing is comparable to the witty self-deprecatory style of Anne Lamott and the scandously revealing style of Kathryn Harrison. I would place this book with the best of the best.

A trip back to my childhood

While this book is primarily geared to a female audience, it also stands for most children and parents of Deep South families. I saw my own life in this book. Her use of imagery takes me back home to my own roots, and I can feel, smell, and touch the places that she talks about. I would highly recommend this book to anyone!