SO FULL OF LIFE - About My Mother

Pascale Hugues follows the traces of her mother, who died young. A sensitive literary narrative of pain and joy of life.

Yvette was born in Colmar, Alsace, in 1929, the year of the Great Depression. Her parents wished for a boy and got a girl. She was left-handed and was forced to write with her right. At times French, at times German, in war-torn Alsace she changed her nationality, language, and even her first name three times. Later, as an adult woman, she wavered between the charm of the bourgeoisie and the lure of rebellion, between patriarchy and feminism. Yvette’s life was constantly between two poles - a mirror of her illness: bipolar.

As a child, Pascale Hugues was not told why her caring mother disappeared for weeks. The adults did not tell her she was in the clinic. Now, she embarks on a search. She paints a picture of an era when mental illness was a taboo hidden behind protective lies. In this book, she finds a way closer to her mother, who was so full of life.