Dandelion: Memoir of a Free Spirit - Catherine James

Catherine James’ relationship with her young, beautiful and wickedly irresponsible mother informed her Los Angeles childhood—neglected enough that she was strapped to a chair at night while her mother cavorted on the Sunset Strip, Catherine longed not for normalcy, but just for the chance to get away. To get away to her beloved grandmother Mimi, or to her Aunt Claire’s, a Hollywood version of Grey Gardens stuffed with racks of the former beauty queen’s 1930’s ball gowns and memories of grand parties with Claire’s ex-husband Busby Berkeley. To get away to her father, a dashing race car driver who had been out of her life almost since the day she was born. To even get away to school, where she would at least be taken care of. Instead, Catherine was finally abandoned by her furious mother to become a ward of the state before she reached her teens.