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Title: True North: The Shocking Truth about Yours, Mine and Ours

Author: Tom North

Narrator: Tom North

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-12-17

Publisher: True North Productions, LLC

Genres: Bios & Memoirs, Personal Memoirs

Publisher's Summary:

Tom North is one of the eight North children, who together with the ten Beardsley children, became the family that was featured in the 1968 film, Yours, Mine and Ours, starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda, and again in the 2005 version starring Rene Russo and Dennis Quaid. The book begins in the 1950s on Whidbey Island, Washington, where Toms mother, Helen North, became a widow when she was just thirty years old and pregnant with her eighth child. Not long after, Helen North met and married Frank Beardsley, a man with ten children and the North children were adopted and their names changed to Beardsley. But it wasnt one big happy family, as the movie depicted. When Tom finally left home, he traveled on a journey of survival, self-discovery, and healing. Years later, miraculously led his family in counseling sessions where shocking truths were revealed, he came full circle as he reclaimed his fathers name and was finally, True North.

Members Reviews:

I recommended it to anyone who saw the movies or anyone ...

I found "True North" fascinating as I have both read his mother's "Who Gets the Drumstick" and seen both movie versions of "Yours, Mine and Ours." Tom North answers a lot of questions I had after reading his mother's book, mainly the question of: How could there have been no conflict?" "True North" shows that yes, there was indeed conflict----abusive conflict. I give the book 3 stars because there was so much that could have been tightened or condensed. Still, "True North" is definitely worth the read. I recommended it to anyone who saw the movies or anyone who has survived abuse.

Mostly about Tom's own life

Those of us who are old enough to remember when everyone had seen "Yours, Mine, and Ours" (and younger children even played at being that family) would not have wanted 19 people in the house - but it made for the sort of comedy which appealed to 'family values,' and did contain a few insights from the 'wise' characters of the parents. I think that many of us realised the film was a comic adaptation, and that the book "Who Gets the Drumstick?" fit into the 'inspirational family' model which many authors (most much better ones than Helen North) used during the era. The passages I found most interesting in "True North" were those which gave some insight into Helen's reasons for marrying Frank - and for hiding what was truly going on within that household. They will seem bizarre - but those of us who knew a few 'martyrs' with religious dedication will not be totally shocked.

Catholics who remember the era will be saddened, but not surprised, that Tom's attempts to find help from a priest (in a parish where he was an altar boy) led to his being told he had sinned in speaking badly of his stepfather - and that the priest immediately telephoned Helen to report the 'sin.' It was tragic, in that era, that parents were 'always right' - and to speak ill of one's parents, even in grave situations, was against the commandment to 'honour.' That Tom found his spirituality elsewhere is understandable - and far healthier.

However, such insights are few. The majority of the book is about Tom's own pursuits - which are only mildly interesting.