My Mother, Munchausen's and Me
A True Story of Betrayal and a Shocking Family Secret
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Narrated by:
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Helen Naylor
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By:
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Helen Naylor
About this listen
There was a time when I loved my mother. It’s shocking to imply that I stopped loving my mum because mothers always love their children and always do their best for them. Mothers are supposed to be good. But my mother wasn’t good.
Ten years ago, Helen Naylor discovered her mother, Elinor, had been faking debilitating illnesses for 30 years. After Elinor’s self-induced death, Helen found her diaries, which Elinor wrote daily for more than 50 years. The diaries reveal not only the inner workings of Elinor’s twisted mind and self-delusion, but also shocking revelations about Helen’s childhood.
Everything Helen knew about herself and her upbringing was founded on a lie. The unexplained accidents and days spent entirely on her own as a little girl, imagining herself climbing into the loft and disappearing into a different world, tell a story of neglect. As a teenager, her mother’s advice to Helen on her body and mental health speaks of dangerous manipulation.
With Elinor’s behavior becoming increasingly destructive, and Helen now herself a mother, she was left with a stark choice: to collude with Elinor’s lies or be accused of abandoning her.
My Mother, Munchausen’s and Me is a heartbreaking, honest, and brave account of a daughter unravelling the truth about her mother and herself. It’s a story of a stolen childhood, mental illness, and the redemptive power of breaking a complex and toxic bond.
©2021 Helen Naylor (P)2021 Thread, an imprint of Storyfire Ltd.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Tressa Middleton made UK history when she became Britain's youngest mum in 2006 aged just 12 years and eight months. Her case provoked shock and outrage - but the truth behind the headlines was far sadder than anyone could ever have imagined. Born into a life of poverty and neglect, Tressa was forced to grow up fast when was she taken into care at just four years old. She was returned to her mother's chaotic world, but by the age of seven, she was being abused by her own brother and at 11 years old she fell pregnant with his child. For years she kept his dark secret in an attempt to hold her family together until the truth threatened to destroy her completely.
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truly amazing such a beautiful n strong Young wome
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By: Tressa Middleton
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The Nanny
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Great gripping story!
- By Jordan Zenzel on 10-01-19
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The Golden Child
- A Novel
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- Narrated by: Candice Moll
- Length: 11 hrs
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Beth Mahony is a stay-at-home mother of two daughters, Lucy and Charlotte. She’s also a blogger, whose alter ego, Lizzie, paints a picture of a busy, happy life. Originally from Australia, Beth and her family have lived in New Jersey for ten years. When an opportunity to relocate to Australia arises, the Mahonys decide to return to their native country. The move comes at the perfect time: Charlotte, the youngest daughter, has been accused of being the ringleader of a clique of girls whose dangerous initiation rites leave a child in hospital.
By: Wendy James
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Can't Hurt Me
- Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds
- By: David Goggins
- Narrated by: David Goggins, Adam Skolnick
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
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For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare--poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a US Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force tactical air controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events.
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Opting for the book instead
- By S David on 12-24-18
By: David Goggins
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The Art of War
- By: Sun Tzu
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- Length: 1 hr and 7 mins
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The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.
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The actual book The Art of War, not a commentary
- By Fred271 on 12-31-19
By: Sun Tzu
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The 6 Habits of Growth
- By: Brendon Burchard
- Narrated by: Brendon Burchard
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The world’s leading high-performance coach and multiple New York Times best-selling author Brendon Burchard delivers the six habits of personal growth that will help you create the life of your dreams. Forged from Brendon Burchard’s personal experiences, data from his GrowthDay app, and his many years as a high-performance coach, The 6 Habits of Growth presents the tools you need to construct the life of your dreams.
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Don’t bother
- By B. Sharpe on 10-30-22
By: Brendon Burchard
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12 Months to $1 Million
- How to Pick a Winning Product, Build a Real Business, and Become a Seven-Figure Entrepreneur
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By cutting out the noise and providing a clear and proven plan, this road map helps even brand-new entrepreneurs make decisions quickly, get their product up for sale, and launch it to a crowd that is ready and waiting to buy. This one-year plan will guide you through the three stages to your first $1 million: the Grind (months 0-4), the Growth (months 5-8), and the Gold (months 9-12). If your goal is to be a full-time entrepreneur, get ready for one chaotic, stressful, and rewarding year. If you have the guts to complete it, you will be the proud owner of a million-dollar business.
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Good, but a Little Misleading
- By Chris Love on 11-28-20
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How to Train Your Mind
- Exploring the Productivity Benefits of Meditation
- By: Chris Bailey
- Narrated by: Chris Bailey
- Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins
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Meditation makes you more productive because it lets you earn back time. For each minute you spend meditating, you'll earn around nine minutes back, as Chris Bailey - author of The Productivity Project and Hyperfocus - will show in this candid and counter-intuitive guide to the productivity benefits of meditation.
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Started Listening By Accident
- By T.D.Willis on 01-17-21
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The 5 Second Rule
- Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage
- By: Mel Robbins
- Narrated by: Mel Robbins
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How to enrich your life and destroy doubt in five seconds. Throughout your life, you've had parents, coaches, teachers, friends, and mentors who have pushed you to be better than your excuses and bigger than your fears. What if the secret to having the confidence and courage to enrich your life and work is simply knowing how to push yourself?
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I turned it off after an hour.
- By Zac on 04-08-17
By: Mel Robbins
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The Daily Stoic
- 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
- By: Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
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Why have history's greatest minds - from George Washington to Frederick the Great to Ralph Waldo Emerson along with today's top performers, from Super Bowl-winning football coaches to CEOs and celebrities - embraced the wisdom of the ancient Stoics? Because they realize that the most valuable wisdom is timeless and that philosophy is for living a better life, not a classroom exercise. The Daily Stoic offers a daily devotional of Stoic insights and exercises, featuring all-new translations.
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Not well made as audio
- By Andreas on 12-27-16
By: Ryan Holiday, and others
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Deep Sleep Hypnosis: Fall Asleep Instantly and Sleep Well
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- Narrated by: Allison Mason
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
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A lack of quality sleep can hinder your alertness and quality of life while awake, as anyone with sleeping issues already knows. Suffering through sleepless nights does not have to be your reality. Instead you can fall asleep fast and get quality sleep tonight and every night. Hypnosis has been used for centuries to cure many ailments, including the inability to get better sleep. You can help yourself improve the quality of your life with hypnotherapy.
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put me right to sleep
- By Cassandra on 05-08-17
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The Mastery of Self
- A Toltec Guide to Personal Freedom
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- Narrated by: Charlie Varon
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The ancient Toltecs believed that life, as we perceive it, is a dream. We each live in our own personal dream, and these come together to form the dream of the planet, or the world in which we live. Problems arise when our perception of the dream becomes clouded with negativity, drama, and judgment (of ourselves and others), because it's in these moments of suffering that we have forgotten that we are the architects of our own reality and we have the power to change our dream if we choose.
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listen.. .then listen again
- By Casiano on 12-22-16
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What listeners say about My Mother, Munchausen's and Me
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Elaine
- 01-10-22
Touching memoires
Growing up with a mother that has munchausen’s and narcissistic personality disorder is too insane to believe. Every chapter revealed a deeper darker twisted cave that this woman grew up in. And reading how it doesn’t stop just because she’s grown… A very enlightening book that can hopefully be a cautionary tale for those in need. ♥️
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- Ashley K
- 12-01-21
True story but reads like a thriller 😱
This was a audiobook that kept me hooked all the way through. Helen as an adult looks back on her life as a child, teen and into adult years and how everything was centred around her mom. And when things weren’t about her, how she would act to get the attention back.
I found it really interesting that Helen’s mom kept journals detailing each day in a couple of lines. When sections were read during the book you could feel the detachment from situations and the excitement if a medical professional gave her attention.
This book publishes November 25th. Thank you to the author, @netgalley and @bookouture for the advanced audio copy.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Robin Loves Reading
- 12-02-21
Excellent book!
I have heard quite a bit about Munchausen's by Proxy over the years, but not much about Munchausen's itself. In this memoir by Helen Naylor, we learn how her mother's decades of fake illnesses finally led to her death, and how this all had a devastating effect on Helen.
Elinor's illnesses were self-manufactured. But she kept diaries. Dozens and dozens of them over the course of fifty years. As Helen begins reading these diaries she learns so much about her mother, but even about herself as well.
Helen's life was tragic. Her mother was always ill in bed, leaving Helen to fend for herself for days at a time. This was when she was a young child. As a teenager, things became much worse for Helen. As an adult, Helen began reading these diaries and is more than determined never to ever become like her mother. She also learns what love is and how it is an unbreakable bond, even as she survived a tragic past.
I had this book review in audiobook format, and it was narrated by the author. Listening to this book had quite an impact on me. This was no easy book to read or listen to, especially because things were so tragic. Sometimes Helen read the journal entries in order, sometimes randomnly. In either case, they were more than disturbing. Now Helen herself is a mother, and she wants never to repeat her mother's mistakes. More than that, as a reader I often felt as if I were absorbing the same words that Helen was reading, and wondering what it would have been like to be in her shoes, especially when she was a child.
Many thanks to Thread and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.
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4 people found this helpful
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- KIC
- 08-11-23
Much of my own childhood was reflected in this.
This book was hugely validating to take in. While my own experience was more a covert (less obvious / dramatic) there was 80% of this book I could relate to, which helped me to validate what happened in my own family.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-01-22
Interesting but a little long…
One downside of the book is feeling like it could have been nailed down in 10 less chapters. It was mind-bending to realize the horrible health care system they had to rely upon, even as she seeks support for PTSD. I just hope Helen continues to thrive in spite of the harsh realities she faces head on with great courage. I believe she is an inspiration to the many lost souls trying to find their footing after being raised by truly crazy, abusive people.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-12-24
Boring
I couldn't see the author as a victim. Her stories seemed exaggerated and her mother's diary entries seemed like average day to day writing that the author seemed to twist to fit her narrative. I saw no Munchausen's and the story didn't ring true.
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- Holly Tyrer
- 03-19-22
Couldn’t Finish It - Depressing & Frustrating
It’s a rare exception if I don’t finish a book but this book falls into that rare exception. Helen’s story is a sad one and her childhood with her mother was clearly challenging, however, as a book it came off as Helen having “victim/martyr mentality”. Her mothers diary entries did little to support the narrative around them. I can only base my review on the first half of the book since I didn’t finish it but I didn’t finish it because it droned on and on with sameness. Memoirs typically take the reader on a journey where the subject grows and evolves throughout life’s trials and tribulations. Half way through the book, Helen had grown from childhood to motherhood with little to no personal growth in relation to her mother. I went from sympathising with childhood Helen to being frustrated with adult Helen that she was still allowing herself to be mistreated and barely made any effort to move outside the mental confines her mother had laid out. I don’t recommend this book to anyone who had a turbulent childhood because it’s not empowering at all. In fact it felt downright depressing and frustrating.
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- NMwritergal
- 11-26-21
Instead, read Motherland: by Elissa Altman
Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing by Elissa Altman, got 5 (rare) stars from me. This was one star all the way through until the ending redeemed it a little.
Both authors have similar stories, though throw the whole Munchausen's thing into Naylor's story but Altman does 5 times as much in half the time. Both author's can write, but both cannot tell a story. Naylor's ability to tell the story really didn't work--until the end.
Yes, she is deserving of our sypathy/empathy, but she comes off almost as unlikable as her mother. While she is the victim, she writes the story in the "victimy" way that nobody really wants to read, still full of rancor and overuse of negative adjectives and adverbs in dialogue.
She doesn't bother to develop her husband as a character, who I assume (since they are married with two kids) was her primary support though her hellish journey--at least in her adult life.
There's way too much telling, not enough showing and worse--there was one VERY long chapter where she goes to "clear" her mother's house because her mom is moving. I kept assuming (as the chapter droned on) that Naylor was packing up her mom's house for the move. Halfway through her mother's appalling antics, ten tons of bitter dialogue, etc., I realized the author was getting the house ready to SELL--so it looked decent. Upshot is that very little gets done and it feels like an endless tirade of how truly wretched her mother is. But we already knew that. That chapter could have been 75% shorter. The whole book should have been 40 percent shorter.
I think in cases where the person the author is writing about is so horrendous, shorter is better because you really do have empathy/sympathy for the person enduring this awful situation and you just can't stand to listen anymore. And there's the frustration of Naylor's inability to stand up to her mother. Yes...reasons. but it's frustrating to listen to the same stuff over and over.
And the worst part, where it's an epic fail: At a few points the author talks about how much she loved her mother. There is NO evidence of showing or telling that would lead you to believe she loved her mother. Not one scene. Not one good thing said about her mother as it relates to their relationship. So you just have to take the author's word for the fact that she loved and idolized this horrible woman. And when Naylor is pregnant and her mom really goes off the rails and Naylor begins to catch on, she keeps wishing she had her old mother back--the one she loved so much. Again...reasons. But you can't fall back on something like, "Everyone will understand why I loved my mother. I was a kid, I didn't know any better" or whatever the reason, when you rightly paint the woman as the awful woman she is (albeit mentally ill).
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