Part Swan, Part Goose: An Uncommon Memoir of Womanhood, Work, and Family

A powerful memoir of a life of unique choices, a wide-ranging career, and special relationships with family, friends, and colleagues.

Swoosie Kurtz shares personal misadventures and showbiz lore, while candidly reflecting on the intimate journey of caring for an aging parent. Swoosie’s father, Frank, an Olympic diving medalist, later became one of the most decorated aviators in American history, flying a record number of missions in a cobbled-together B-17D Flying Fortress called “The Swoose.” Her mother, Margo, chronicled their early years together in her 1945 memoir, My Rival, the Sky.

Today, 97-year-old Margo lives with Swoosie. As Swoosie struggles to stay ahead of her mother’s increasing needs while navigating the pitfalls and pratfalls of the entertainment industry, this precarious time is bittersweet and occasionally overwhelming. But every day is oxygenated with laughter and love. The careful weaving of Swoosie’s story with passages from My Rival, the Sky creates a vivid portrait of the invincible mother-daughter bond between the two women. Part Swan, Part Goose is that rare Hollywood memoir that takes us behind the curtain but doesn’t live there; its heart is solidly at home.