In a wise, warmhearted memoir that celebrates her extraordinary life and stellar career, Swoosie Kurtz shares just the right combination of personal misadventure and showbiz lore, candidly reflecting on the right choices that empowered her, the wrong choices that enlightened her, and the intimate journey of caring for an aging parent. Animating this remarkable memoir is Swoosie’s relationship with her equally remarkable parents. Her father, Frank, was an Olympic athlete and highly decorated World War II airman. He flew a record number of missions in a cobbled-together B-17D called the Swoose. Her mother, Margo, was the quintessential military wife but with the spunk and will to match her husband’s. Her 1945 memoir, My Rival, the Sky, chronicled their lives up to the time of the birth of their daughter. Today, Margo, who is fast approaching her hundredth birthday, lives with Swoosie. And Swoosie’s life has become a precarious and precious balancing act as she struggles to stay ahead of her mother’s increasing needs while navigating a showbiz career that keeps one foot in Hollywood and the other on Broadway. The critics love Swoosie Kurtz…. “Inimitable…one of the best comic actors of our time.” —USA Today “[An] expert comic actress…may just be the most seductive woman on the New York stage right now.” —Charles Isherwood, The New York Times and “full of surprises…expressive…devastating…unforgettable.” —Ben Brantley, The New York Times

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

Rodgers, Joni

Kurtz, Swoosie

Humor & Entertainment

TarcherPerigee

In a wise, warmhearted memoir that celebrates her extraordinary life and stellar career, Swoosie Kurtz welcomes readers into her world, sharing personal misadventures and showbiz lore and candidly reflecting on the intimate journey of caring for an aging parent. Told with intelligence and Swoosie’s hallmark comedic timing, Part Swan, Part Goose makes a powerful statement about womanhood, work and family. Swoosie’s is the kind of memoir that doesn’t come without a fascinating back story: Enter the parents, Frank and Margo Kurtz. Frank, an Olympic diving medalist, later became one of the most decorated aviators in American history. He flew a record number of missions in a cobbled-together B-17D Flying Fortress called “The Swoose,” now housed at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. Margo chronicled their early years together in her memoir, My Rival, the Sky, published by Putnam in 1945. The book ends with the young couple happily anticipating the birth of a baby to be named after the indomitable Swoose. Today, Margo, who is approaching her hundredth birthday, lives with Swoosie. As Margo’s reality drifts freely between her morning coffee and a 1943 war bond tour, Swoosie struggles to stay ahead of her mother’s increasing needs while navigating the pitfalls and pratfalls of the entertainment industry. This precarious moment in 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. It doesn’t pretend to tell all, but what it does tell is deeply resonant for millions caring for aging parents, timely and topical for book clubs and entertaining as hell for readers in general.

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kurtz, Swoosie. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kurtz, Swoosie

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kurtz, Swoosie. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

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

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