Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith is the author and first-person narrator of You Could Make This Place Beautiful. At the outset of her memoir, she tells the reader that she is not writing a tell-all but a tell-mine. Her intention is to discover her own truth about her marriage, divorce, and relationship with motherhood. When Smith was married to her ex-husband, she found a postcard addressed to another woman in briefcase. Shortly after, she asked to go to couples counseling with him. While he agreed, Smith did not address his infidelity in therapy. Instead, they focused on Smith’s work, her work travel, and lack of commitment to the family unit. In the narrative present, Smith questions her own willingness to cede her personal identity, her career, and her creative process to save her marriage. Despite the therapy sessions, her relationship with the ex-husband continued to devolve and he...