Pasadena-based author Heather Haldeman will be presenting her book “Kids & Cocktails Don’t Mix” in a virtual program for the Pasadena Public Library on Thursday, January 20, starting at 5 p.m.
“Kids & Cocktails Don’t Mix,” Haldeman’s debut memoir, is about growing up in wealth and ruin in Los Angeles during the “Mad Men” era.
The story follows Heather, the pudgy granddaughter of the Governor of California, who grows up in an exclusive gated Los Angeles community with celebrities and political figures as neighbors, set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. When her father leaves to chase women and riches, her mother must lure in another man to hold onto the house and the lifestyle it represents.
After the father disowns Heather and her sister, they, like their larger-than-life glamorous mother, must find a way to move forward. Watching the machinations of gender and power dynamics of the 1960s and 70s unfold in her own family, Heather becomes determined to make her own way through the world. Unlike her mother, she vows not to rely on looks and seductions, but to find the heart underneath the gilt and glamour.
The author is a Pasadena resident and has been married to her husband, Hank, for 41 years. She has three grown children and two granddaughters.
Haldeman’s essays have been published in The Christian Science Monitor, Chicken Soup for the Soul, From Freckles to Wrinkles, Grandmother Earth, The Mom Egg and numerous online journals. She has received first, second and third prizes for her essays.
This event will be presented in Zoom. To sign up, visit https://pasadena.evanced.info/
For more information, call (626) 744-4066.
