White Walls: A Memoir About Motherhood, Daughterhood, and the Mess In Between

Batalion, the daughter of Jewish parents who were children of Holocaust survivors, writes about her search for identity outside of the history and community she inherited at birth. She relates how her family's history impacted her formative years growing up in Montreal, and how her upbringing affected her in early adulthood. At the crux of the author's work and efforts to define herself is her relationship with her mother, a hoarder with other mental health issues. To escape the long shadow of her mother's mental illness and her father's complacency, Batalion escapes first to Harvard University for her degree and later to South Africa and then to London to pursue postgraduate study. She channels her search for self into travel writing, stand-up comedy, and theatrical performance. Initially, she takes on the role of mother with ambivalence and then fiercely as it absorbs into the fabric of her self-identity.