In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls looks back on a childhood spent moving from desert towns to a collapsing house in West Virginia with parents who refuse stability on principle. Her father is brilliant, charismatic, and alcoholic; her mother is an artist who would rather paint than parent. Walls writes about hunger, danger, and constant improvisation in a voice that is clear and unsentimental, letting the reader feel both the harm and the fierce, complicated love that keeps the family orbiting one another.

WHY WE PICKED IT
Because it has become a modern classic of memoir that still feels sharp on the sentence level, not just “important” in hindsight. The Glass Castle is a strong pick for readers interested in family stories, poverty, and resilience told without easy villains or tidy redemption arcs.

DETAILS
• Author: Jeannette Walls
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Publication Date: January 17, 2006
• Format: Paperback
• ISBN: 9780743247542
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