Lucky Me

Shirley Maclaine's only child reveals what it was like growing up with a mother who believed in reincarnation and extraterrestrials - but not necessarily parenthood. Sachi Parker has led a colorful, idiosyncratic, globe-spanning life. Born in Hollywood but raised in Tokyo, she went to boarding school in Europe, worked as a waitress in Hawaii and France, was engaged to a sheep rancher in Australia, traveled the world as stewardess for Qantas Airways, and finally settled down in Malibu with her celebrated mother, Shirley MacLaine - that's when the fun really started. Sachi's story unfolds like a convoluted mystery in a hall of mirrors, where nothing is what it seems and no one can be trusted. Lucky Me offers a vivid snapshot of the last half century from the Rat Pack world of the '60s through the free love consciousness raising '70s and the New Age self-absorption of the present. It's a fascinating look at the surreal world of Hollywood and celebrity and, ultimately, a bittersweet love letter to a mother who is at once universally beloved and an enigmatic puzzle, a larger-than-life superstar who commands the spotlight and yet always seems just beyond reach. 'Extraordinarily touching and disturbing . . . Lucky Me is a palpably painful account of a lifetime spent trying to unravel mysteries - the actions of her parents, her own failures . . . . Ms. Parker is an excellent, evocative writer.' The Huffington Post