Through My Mother's Eyes: A Memoir - Paperback

by Kristin Michele Basso (Author)

The Gilmour family home in 1930's Toronto was a glamorous stage, where opera, travel and horses played leading roles, so it is no wonder that Shelagh (Vansittart), the eldest child born to her opera diva mother and war hero father, was predestined to think "outside the box." She left for Norway as a naïve war bride, but returned as a liberated single mother with two children to support and a burning desire to open her own import business-an unheard of idea for a woman of her time. Her iconic store, Shelagh's, soon set postwar Toronto's stuffy decor back on its heels. From the start, it was a huge success, and Shelagh used her business as a vehicle to explore the world and to introduce her customers to the concept of eclecticism in interior design and fashion, by bringing the world to their doorstep. Like her handsome father, she had a down to earth charisma that could light up a room, and men all over the world were drawn to her like bees round a honeypot. Shelagh lived and loved like a man-on her own terms. How she managed to juggle her career and travels, a second marriage to a dashing Englishman, four children, three homes, and a menagerie of horses and household pets was a wonder. But then so was my mother. Maybe she somehow knew that she wouldn't have time to grow old, so she grabbed onto each day with both hands, and taught me to do the same. This roving memoir, spanning three generations, is our family's story.

Author Biography

Kristin Basso was born in Norway but grew up in Toronto. From an early age, she was fascinated by the natural world and was proud curator of her own thriving (tabletop) zoo, like her hero, famed zoologist Gerald Durrell. However, its inhabitants wriggled free as soon as horses, little sisters and trips to Europe and Mexico-along with the romances encountered along the way, became part of her life. But her deep love of nature has always endured Kristin studied Interior Design at OCA, before working for thirteen years with her mother and mentor, Shelagh Vansittart, at her iconic store, "Shelagh's," in Yorkville. She accompanied her indefatigable matriarch on her adventurous buying trips around the world. Later, Kristin became a freelance writer for Canadian House and Home magazine. She and her husband, jazz flugelhornist Guido Basso, fell in love with the pastoral beauty of Prince Edward County many years ago, and live in a rambling Victorian farmhouse overlooking the changing moods of Lake Ontario. Horses are still part of her daily life, although she is also an avid photographer and painter, and is currently working on a book of photographs taken using a horse's perspective.