Terry Gross

It's not going to be a thing.

So, you know, be a doctor, be a lawyer.

A lot of people have heard that.

Yes.

From their parents.

But it was particularly wounding for you because your identity was so totally wrapped up in books and in words, language, writing.

And to be told, it's like being told, you're not who you are.

You're a fraud.

You're not who, you know, she called you a fraud.

And you know, you can't strip an identity from a child who is wired to be that way.

I mean, it sounds like it wasn't even your choice.

It was your essential being.

My guest is Rachel Eliza Griffiths.

Her new memoir is called The Flower Bearers.

We'll talk more after a short break.

This is Fresh Air.

In this chapter of the interview, we refer to a mental health crisis.

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

That's 988.

So before writing your new memoir, which is called The Flower Beerers, you wrote books of poetry and a novel.