Judith Ruskay Rabinor

Can a mother be loving and selfish? Caring and thoughtless? Deceitful and devoted? These questions fuel psychologist Dr.Judy Rabinor’s quest to understand her ambivalence toward her mother.

In this revealing memoir, Rabinor , a psychologist, shares stories of her patients as well as challenges faced in her own personal and professional life. While leading a seminar exploring the importance of the mother-daughter relationship, she is blindsided by a memory of a childhood trauma. Realizing how this buried trauma has resonated through her life, she sets off to heal herself. The Girl in the Red Boots weaves together tales from Rabinor’s life and her psychotherapy practice with eating disordered patients and their mothers. In the process, she traces her own journey becoming a wounded healer and ultimately making peace with her mother, and herself.

Not a traditional self-help book outlining “steps” to forgive one’s mother, The Girl in the Red Boots is a poignant memoir filled with hard-won life lessons, including the fact that it’s never too late to let go of hurts and disappointments and develop compassion for yourself—and even for your mother.