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In the bestselling tradition of The Help comes a riveting, and profoundly moving memoir set in rural Mississippi during the Civil Rights era about a white girl coming of age in a repressive society and the woman who gave her the strength to forge her own path�the black nanny who cared for her. Tena Clark was born in 1953 in a tiny Mississippi town close to the Alabama border, where the legacy of slavery and racial injustice still permeated every aspect of life. On the outside, Tena�s childhood looked like a fairytale. Her father was one of the richest men in the state; her mother was a regal beauty. The family lived on a sprawling farm and had the only swimming pool in town; Tena was given her first car�a royal blue Camaro�at twelve. But behind closed doors, Tena�s life was deeply lonely, and chaotic. By the time she was three, her parents� marriage had dissolved into a swamp of alcohol, rampant infidelity, and guns. Adding to the turmoil, Tena understood from a very young age that she was different from her three older sisters, all of whom had been beauty queens and majorettes. Tena knew she didn�t want to be a majorette�she wanted to marry one. On Tena�s tenth birthday, her mother, emboldened by alcoholism and enraged by her husband�s incessant cheating, walked out for good, instantly becoming an outcast in society. Tena was left in the care of her black nanny, Virgie, who became Tena�s surrogate mother and confidante�even though she was raising nine of her own children and was not allowed to eat from the family�s plates or use their bathroom. It was Virgie�s acceptance and unconditional love that gave Tena the courage to stand up to her domineering father, the faith to believe in her mother�s love, and the strength to be her true self. Combining the spirit of poignant coming-of-age memoirs such as The Glass Castle and vivid, evocative Southern fiction like Fried Green Tomatoes, Southern Discomfort is about the people and places that shape who we are�and is destined to become a new classic.