Laura Davis - The Burning Light of Two Stars: A Mother-Daughter Story

Laura Davis has written a brilliant memoir. The Burning Light of Two Stars is destined to become as much a classic as The Courage to Heal, her groundbreaking book on healing from sexual abuse. The Burning Light of Two Stars, written more than thirty years later, explores Lauras attempts to reconcile with her mother, who had previously denied that Laura had been sexually abused. Here, a mature writer looks back on the most primal and pivotal relationship in her life. Laura handles the complex emotions and interactions of mother and daughter with deep insight, clarity, and compassion. Her storytelling is compelling, poignant, and heartfelt. At times gut-wrenching, at other times hilarious, The Burning Light of Two Stars is a must read.

Adrienne Drake, MD, Mission Viejo, California

I was completely captivated by this story. The Burning Light of Two Stars was one of those books you start reading and feel as if youve stumbled on a treasure. Every night I found it hard to put down. I was hungry to always read more, to turn each page and consume each paragraph. The story is brilliant. There is intrigue, emotion, life lessons, and a deep connection to real family life and relationships. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting a good readbut especially to those living with family estrangement, now or in the past.

Yasmin Kerkez, founder of Moving Beyond Family Struggles

I quickly ran out of superlatives for The Burning Light of Two Stars because so many scenes grabbed me. From the first page, I was fully engaged in Lauras world and didnt want to put the book down. It was as if she was speaking my story, her mother a mirror of my own. I am certain this wise exploration of mother-daughter dynamics over a lifetime will resonate broadly. As I pored over its pages, I didnt want this beautiful, compelling story to end. And for me, it hasnt: Lauras memoir and all of her characters have stayed with me to this day.

Kay Taylor, author of Soul Path Way

I finished The Burning Light of Two Stars in a bed of tears. What an eloquent and compelling story.

Abby Stamelman Hocky, executive director, Interfaith Philadelphia

Lauras book is a stunning achievement. I am certain The Burning Light of Two Stars will be used as a discussion vehicle with seniors, in groups dealing with mother-daughter issues, family estrangement, compassionate choices, Alzheimers disease, and death with dignity, with a facilitator guiding discussion afterwards. Laura Davis has made a major contribution to the literature of aging, death, and dying.

Etiel Herring, Santa Cruz, California

In this riveting memoir, Laura grapples with questions that many of us struggle with: How do family members stay in relationship with each other when they cant agree on critical elements of their collective past? How do families overcome past hurts when they need to show up for each other in their hour of need? And Is it possible to risk loving someone you desperately want to be able to love, but who has repeatedly betrayed you? As a palliative care doctor, The Burning Light of Two Stars put me in touch with what the caregiver experience is really like. I enthusiastically recommend this book.

Shoshana Helman, MD, hospice and palliative medicine, Redwood City, California

When Laura Davis and Ellen Bass published The Courage to Heal, it emboldened a generation of survivors of incest and sexual abuse, likely contributing to the courageous voices for many who are part of todays MeToo and TimesUp movements. In The Burning Light of Two Stars, Davis allows us to know the person behind those pages, and the story behind that story. Nuanced, raw, and candid, this memoir does not designate white hat or black hat characters. Instead, it provides a topographical map through the complex landscape of the mother-daughter relationship at the heart of the story, with characters both noble and deeply flawed on both sides of the equation. This masterful heart-filling book is deeply moving and wise.

Betsy Graziani Fasbinder, therapist and author of Filling Her Shoes and Fire and Water

I found The Burning Light of Two Stars to be riveting, an effortless read. Im in two book groups, and at any given time I am reading or listening to two or three books concurrently. Ive put them all down for this one. Its just that good.

Olivia Bethea, Atlanta, Georgia

Laura Davis has a unique ability to capture the details of everyday life in vivid color, as she allows the reader to shadow her on this intimate, challenging, and often humorous family journey. The emotional range of the book is a major strength: frustration, fear, rage, joy, absurdity, humor, love, hate, melancholyits all there. Its a fabulous read.

Talin Vartanian, producer at The Sunday Edition and creator of Canada Reads, CBC Radio

Lauras story is important because it captures, with authenticity and supreme honesty, the vexed, complicated and tender mother-daughter bonds and because it doesnt hold back the daughters ambiguity, resentments, wavering, love-hate sentiments. The sincerity through which the story is conveyed took my breath away.

Rosa-Linda Fregoso, professor emerita of Latin American and Latino studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, and coeditor of Terrorizing Women: Feminicide in the Amricas

Ive never experienced a book like this before. I was fully engrossed in every scene as if I was living it. I just couldnt put it down. I cant find words for how powerfully The Burning Light of Two Stars affected me. Im a different person after having read it. My heart is full. Laura Davis addresses the complexity of family relationships like nothing Ive ever read before.

Toni Taylor, retired nurse

In a culture that produces chasms of disconnection in our most tender relationships, and sanitizes the rawness of life, The Burning Light of Two Stars takes the reader on a journey that reconnects and rescues the beauty of lifes messiest realities. It is a story of resistance and rebirth, one that provides myriad lessons on what it takes to transcend deep wounds. Laura Davis has written a brilliant, compelling book that I just couldnt put down. I read all night, and I do not give up sleep easily. The Burning Light of Two Stars fed my soul.

Eileene Tejada, PhD, professor of English and anthropology at Napa Valley College

I just finished this remarkable book today. My experience reading The Burning Light of Two Stars was profound. I found the story compelling. The writing superb. I was drawn into Lauras life story in a deeply personal way. I could not put The Burning Light of Two Stars down except to stop often and think about my own mother. I can honestly say I have not experienced such deep thinking about my relationship with my mother in a long time, if ever.

Rosilyn Nesler, Oceanside, California

Ive read nonstop since I woke up, almost one hundred pages already. Its riveting and exquisitely crafted. If I didnt have things I had to do today, Id finish it in one sitting.

Jennifer Meyer, Eugene, Oregon

Lauras book blew me away. Its a memoir written like a novel (no small trick, I think), which is usually my first reading choice. Lauras book reads like a mystery novel; though I sometimes dreaded what Id learn, I couldnt wait to find out what would come next. I highly recommend The Burning Light of Two Stars.

Theresa Miller, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Burning Light of Two Stars