When She Comes Back by Ronit Plank

When She Comes Back: A Memoir by Ronit Plank

Release: May 9th, 2021
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Motina Books
Source: Suzyapproved Book Tours
Find it at Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N

Ronit’s mother went to India to follow a guru leaving behind Ronit and her sister. At that time. Ronit was six years and her sister four years old. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s commune was responsible for the largest biological attack on U.S. soil. He preached that children were hindrances and encouraged sterilizations among his followers. Luckily Ronit’s father, who’d left the family the previous year, stepped up . He then brought the girls to live with him first in Newark, New Jersey, and later in Flushing, Queens.

On the surface, Ronit sought his nurturing as the balm . But she soon paid a second emotional price, taking on the role of partner and confidant to him. Also she became a substitute mother to her sister. By the end of her childhood, Ronit would discover she had lost her mother and the close and trusting relationship she once had with her father. However, by now she has reconciled. But for years she grappled with the toll her mother’s leaving took, measuring her self-worth for love by that absence.

When She Comes Back is the story of a family trying to find itself, grownups who don’t know how to be adults. And what happens when the person your life revolves around can’t stay. It’s also a story of resilience and reconciliation, And how rejection by the most important person in Ronit’s life ultimately led to an unflagging commitment to, and love for her own children.

About the Author:

Ronit Plank is the author of WHEN SHE COMES BACK a coming-of-age memoir. It is about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh to be released May 2021. Her essays have been featured in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The HuffPost, and The Rumpus among others. And her short stories have won prizes and/or special mention in The Iowa Review, American Literary Review, Narrative Magazine, Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts’ 2020 Eludia Award for fiction and Sowilo Press will publish it by early 2022.

She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Nonfiction from Pacific University .

Links to her work and more information: www.ronitplank.com

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When She Comes Back Review:

I recently saw the “Wild Wild Country” documentary on Netflix about the Rajneesh movement’s controversy in the 70s/80s. Reading “When She Comes Back” is a beautiful memoir that mentions how a family’s life changes when the mother gets involved in the movement.

To begin with, I enjoyed the way the author narrated her childhood. She writes the memoir in a simple yet effective manner, where you immediately feel like you are part of the family. Moreover, I loved the family photos she put in to add a personal touch to the book. The highlight of the tale is Ronit’s relationship with her mother. The author beautifully toggles between the present and the past, as Ronit tries to find out why her mother left them and if they were to blame. On a side note, I also loved the Jewish references, and I felt like I learned more about their culture, like “Sabra” and “Kibbutz.”

Moreover, my heart went out to the author while reading the book. The author goes through so many changes, especially with the relationship of her parents. On the one hand, her mother disappears to India to follow the movement, and on the other hand, her father is busy with his new family. In many ways, I applaud the author for growing up and leading an ordinary life, even though she had a rocky upbringing. However, some of the passages haunted me, especially the Halloween incident and when she finds her father’s magazines.

Overall, “When She Comes Back” is an emotional memoir of the author who talks about how situations from her childhood impacted the choices in her life. I recommend this to anyone who loves memoirs and would like to know more about families affected by the Rajneesh movement during the time.

Book Tour Schedule

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the When She Comes Back by Ronit Plank Blog Tour hosted by Suzyapproved Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!