A memoir of growing up in a dysfunctional family in the United States during the 1970s and 80s, Lora Lee describes how she responded to a chaotic world by closing in on herself and building a shell around her, a shell which is cracked open when she endures cancer treatment for the second time and is forced to take stock of her life up to that point. Goodbye Mommy explores our relationships with our families, whether completely dysfunctional, adoptive, or more conventional, but the book's real importance lies beyond that in the way it raises the question of how far our families, upbringing and traumas suffered can seriously affect our health, both immediately and in later life. Lora Lee's story is honestly told, without being mawkish or self-pitying. Her recovery from breast cancer provides a happy and hopeful ending.