See the cover and read the excerpt below.More Than Lovehits shelves May 5.
Excerpt fromMore Than Love: An Intimate Portrait of My Mother, Natalie Woodby Natasha Gregson Wagner.
All is right with the world.
Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster
I can see her face above me, her velvet brown eyes, doe-like, smiling down at me.
Her dark hair falls in my face in soft waves as she bends down to kiss me.
The unmistakable scent of her gardenia perfume.
Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
These are my earliest sensations.
My mother loved to sing, and I loved to listen.
My moms parents were Russian immigrants and she had grown up hearing the language all around her.
Her skin is tawny and lightly freckled.
Her hair is tied back.
She rarely wore much makeup, maybe a dab of gloss on her lips.
The bone had never been set properly and so she wore the cuff on that arm.
I never thought the bump was that terrible.
It was part of her.
My mother named me Natasha.
Before Hollywood renamed her Natalie Wood, she had been Natasha Gurdin.
She was Big Natasha, and I was Little Natasha.Wewere Natasha.
She was Mommie and I was her Natooshie.
She also called me Natashinka, or her pet name for me, her petunia.
For as long as I can remember, people told me I took after her.
You look just like your mother when she was a little girl, friends and even strangers said.
Natasha, youre just like me, my mom repeated, taking my face in her hands, smiling.
We did closely resemble each other, especially as children.
The first time I saw my mother in a movie was a TV broadcast ofMiracle on 34th Streetone Christmas.
I was about four or five.
After each scene, my grown-up mom looked at me expectantly, to see how I was reacting.
Thats me when I was your age, she told me.
See how much you look like me?
This little black-and-white girl shooting skeptical looks at Santa Clausdidresemble me.
I remember getting up and walking behind the television set to see how she managed to get in there.
Excerpted with permission by Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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