Title: The Harding Sisters of Sterling City Road and Me
Author: Carol E. Plimpton
Publisher: Westwood Books Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 978-1643613055
Genre: Biography
Pages: 110
Reviewed by: Lisa Brown-Gilbert
Hollywood Book Reviews
Author Carol E. Plimpton offers an elegantly and thoroughly posed biographical memorialization of her family’s history with The Harding Sisters of Sterling City Road; a biography which not only pays loving tribute to her family members and their histories but also offers fascinating glimpses of past eras which included photos, and other memorabilia such as news excerpts from The Hot News, a one-page weekly publication produced by author Plimpton and a friend.
Ms. Plimpton explores her family’s intriguing history using a collection of resources primarily gathered from her mother Elizabeth B. Plimpton and her sisters. Starting out, author Plimpton includes a loving dedication to her mother which cites a brief look at her background as a teacher, writer, and historian. Next, this memoir moves into an extensive yet informative prologue within which author Carol E. Plimpton brings artful focus to her family’s home, a white farmhouse located in Lyme, Connecticut, her inclusion of clear original photographs, adds an extra touch of authenticity. She also adds a brief overview of the Hardings’ beginnings as a large but loving family consisting of ten girls and one boy.
Moreover, continuing within this intriguing and intricate family chronicle, author Plimpton delves more deeply into the details of her family’s genealogy with ensuing chapters, dedicated to looking at the Harding’s family generations, as well as family events. Traditions also including a well-detailed family tree chart demonstrating just how expansive her family lineage is. Additionally, she includes backgrounds of all eleven family members giving a brief but insightful and absorbing background view of each family member, which also includes photographs, and obituaries. In fact, there is also a chapter dedicated to the order of the deaths in the family.
Ultimately, The Harding Sisters of Sterling City Road and Me turned out to be a memoir with heart, that I wholly enjoyed. As within any family’s story, there are the ups and the downs of life, which the author unabashedly looks at, including both the good times and the more difficult events, the story engrosses with vivid details. Although the entire family biography made for great reading, there were some especially interesting points which I found particularly compelling. Such as mother Plimpton’s extraordinary genealogical skills in tracing their family history back to the time of the Mayflower, as well as two incidences with murder. Altogether, author Carol E. Plimpton has successfully proffered an overall comfortably written and earnestly detailed journey through the Harding family history, of which I would definitely recommend reading.