Dislocation
a Novel by Elizabeth McWilliams
COMING 2022
About the Book
Dislocation is a memoir written in tribute to my late mother and, lest I mislead you, let me make it clear that my mother was certainly not a household name. Instead, she was a twice-divorced mother of four who struggled with her turbulent childhood and fought to raise her children according to a code of ethics that many might have called unorthodox. She could have been your next door neighbor, yet she was remarkably unique in her courage and, at times, brazen perspective. In the end, alcoholism got the better of her and ultimately claimed her life, but not before she left an indelible mark on the psyches of her children and anyone else who came to know and love her.
My mother’s particular struggles are not at all uncommon among women faced with the challenge of self-actualization and empowerment and, in so being, carries implications that extend well beyond my own family to society at large – American or otherwise. But struggle by nature is fraught with conflicting emotions. I loved my mother from the depths of my soul, though my experience of being her daughter led me on a trajectory that included feelings of fierce loyalty coupled with abject shame. She was not an easy woman to love, but love her I did. And thank god, because her influence on my own self development has been profound.
“Halfway through September, Margot found herself living the life of a recently divorced mother of four who somehow, by hook or by crook, had gotten it together.”
— Dislocation, a Novel by Elizabeth McWilliams
Read an Excerpt
Margot Pulls Up Her Britches (and her torn stockings, too)
Halfway through September, Margot found herself living the life of a recently divorced mother of four who somehow, by hook or by crook, had gotten it together. She had accepted a substitute teaching position at The Waynflete School – a private day school just a few blocks from her childhood home that her sisters had attended back when her parents still had money. She was also commuting to Harvard two days a week to finish up her Master’s degree in French, and while there stayed with her new boyfriend – a fledgling musician - in his little apartment off Commonwealth Avenue. Her weeks were immensely full – crammed with the commute from Portland to Cambridge, classes, coursework, domestic chores, caring for children, and caring for her ailing mother with whom she and the kids had come to live.
Margot’s new associations with the Waynflete School had also introduced her to a social circle that, although privileged and perhaps even prissy, was nonetheless blissfully free from the taut world her musician friends inhabited (although musicians tended to be beautiful, poetic types, they were nonetheless endlessly distracted by their meagre finances and ensuing foul tempers). In fact, Margot began receiving a wide assortment of invitations, ranging from campaign fundraisers and gallery openings to lectures by famed scientists at The Audubon Society. She was invited to become a member of a women’s book club that met monthly at the prestigious Cumberland Country Club and made friends with moneyed housewives who kept her up to date with all the hoity-toity gossip. [Continue…]
“A memoir of the troubles that beset [Elizabeth’s] charming, once distinguished family. She confronts the growing alcoholism of her mother with unflinching honesty. She writes with grace, clarity and an eye for the revealing detail.”
— Early Reader
About the Author
ELIZABETH MCWILLIAMS is a life-long writer from a family of literaries.
After earning her Masters in Education from Stanford, she began her teaching career, bringing the joys of the written word to California’s middle and high school students. She continues to support students through her work as an editor.
Dislocation is Elizabeth’s first novel.