Home, My Story of House and Personal Restoration: A Memoir

In this memoir, M.G. Barlow recounts her childhood attachment to her family's old house, which she regarded as a protective presence. After her mother's death, her father remarries and disperses her and her brothers to live with older siblings. Barlow buries her love for the home along with the family pain, eventually becoming a person who falls through the cracks and enters adulthood troubled and undisciplined. Years later, an aging house in a historic New England mill community—one that has sheltered an immigrant family—captures her heart. Despite its deteriorated condition, cracked cement, broken stoop, and resident chipmunks, Barlow falls in love with the place. As she researches the home's history and undertakes repairs, she experiences personal restoration alongside the physical work. The book weaves together the history of a New England house and town with reflections on motherhood, loss, and tradition, incorporating elements of romance and humor.