This memoir looks back at the author’s extraordinary childhood filled with rich memories of her parents’ lives, as well as the pain of long separations and their eventual divorce. It sheds light on their scientific achievements, and is a candid portrait of a unique family. As an adult, Mary became an anthropologist and knew her parents as colleagues. The book recounts the paths of each of these ground-breaking scientists, and details the complex ties that endured between Margaret and Gregory until their deaths. Mary Catherine Bateson is the author of Composing a Life .