Jeannette Walls is an American author and journalist best known as former gossip columnist for msnbc.com. Her memoir, “The Glass Castle,” tells the story of her childhood nomadic family and spent years on The New York Times best seller list. It sold over 2.7 million copies and has been translated into multiple languages. The movie adaptation starring Brie Larson, Naomi Watts and Woody Harrelson opens in theaters on Friday August 11, 2017.

According to Amazon, in “The Glass Castle” Walls recounts the unconventional, poverty-stricken upbringing she and her siblings had at the hands of their dysfunctional parents. When sober, her brilliant and charismatic father captured his children’s imagination while teaching them physics, geology and how to embrace life fearlessly. As a drunk, he was dishonest and destructive. Their mother was a free spirit who disliked the idea of domesticity. Because she did not like the responsibility of raising a family, the Walls children learned to take care of themselves and eventually moved to New York. Their parents followed them but even as their children prospered, they were often homeless. It is a story of resilience, redemption and a family whose life was both dysfunctional and vibrant.