A Note on Miss D & Me

Today is the day Miss D & Me goes on sale, and I’d like to share a bit of the story hinted at in the book trailer.

The book opens with my entering the Concorde at Charles De Gaulle airport to fetch Miss D. It was July of 1985 and it was the first time she'd seen me since the publication of her daughter Bede’s tell all memoir in the style of “Mommy Dearest.” At the time, I wasn't sure what state I'd find my mentor in. Bette Davis, always a fighter, had been talking about how she no longer wants to live after the humiliation.

When I scanned the passengers, I didn't recognize Miss D, who had lost 20 pounds on her already slender frame. I got her off the plane and to our hotel in Biarritz where we worked on Miss D’s second memoir until she got some of her spark back. Then we embarked on a four-day road trip from Biarritz to Paris, for the first time without a driver, navigating the roads on our own.

The road trip was funny and contentious, witty and wise, and by the time we drove into Paris we had disentangled our fierce dependency. We were no longer mentor/protégéor stepmother/stepdaughter. After all we had been through together, we recognized that we were now friends. I have an archivist's habits. Miss D & Me was fact checked through my review of dozens of scrapbooks filled with original photos, menus from meals we shared, letters and poems Miss D wrote, some of which you can see the delightful trailer.

As the fans of Bette Davis, I hope you enjoy Miss D & Me.

- Kath