"Maid," by Stephanie Land

Regular readers of this blog may remember that I am very interested in (and have published on, in the context of language education) issues of social class, and of how those issues affect so many lives so deeply. In the U.S., too many people are slipping from the middle class into financial struggles and even poverty. Stephanie Land’s new memoir, “Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive” (Hachette, 2019), describes such a situation. The author had a more-or-less middle class upbringing, but an unexpected pregnancy and then a breakup with the child’s father kept her from attending college as she had planned, and dropped her into poverty. Her parents (divorced and each with new partners) had also slipped financially, and were not able to help her. She became a housecleaner, working hard for very low wages, having to leave her child in less-than-ideal day care for long hours, living in small uncomfortable apartments (including one with black mold that made both her and her daughter sick all the time), constantly worried about money. Her situation was very difficult. We readers suffer with her through the painful jobs, the pinching of pennies, the embarrassment about taking government assistance. She always kept writing, though. And she writes insightfully and occasionally entertainingly and humorously about the different houses she cleaned and their owners. Some of the owners treat her as if she is inferior to them; others are more egalitarian and caring. She shares vivid details about the jobs, the houses, and the residents. Meanwhile, she dreams of visiting and living in Missoula, Montana, which has somehow become her magic ideal. Throughout, we see Land's determination to keep going and to improve her living situation for the sake of her daughter, Mia. I won’t let slip any spoilers, but a hint is that things do get better for the author eventually.