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Victress Hitchcock grew up in London, Paris and Madrid as the daughter of a diplomat. She graduated from the London Film School in 1972 and began a 45-year career making award winning documentary and educational films. At 72, she began writing a memoir. A Tree with My Name on It: Finding a Way Home was published by Bold Story Press in October 2024
Victress lives in Colorado, teaches writing and contemplation workshops, writes poetry and stories, hangs out with her grandchildren, is a long-time meditator in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and an ordained Buddhist teacher.
Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite
A Tree with My Name on It: Finding a Way Home by Victress Hitchcock is a tender and soul-searching memoir about what it means to rebuild yourself when everything you counted on disappears. After she relocates to a remote Colorado ranch with her husband, life takes an unexpected turn toward isolation, heartbreak, and profound uncertainty. Alone in a place that once promised peace, she begins to confront the unhealed wounds she has carried for years. Through the patient companionship of horses, the healing rhythms of the natural world, and her own unflinching honesty, the author charts a quiet, courageous return to herself. This is not a triumphalist story of reinvention but a deeply human one—messy, nonlinear, and laced with grace.
Author Victress Hitchcock puts her whole soul on display in her writing, and as such, she brings huge warmth, wit, and emotional intelligence to every page. I was surprised by the amount of gentle humor and humility that ran through her reflections to lighten the mood and keep things distinctly human and relatable. She does not claim to have all the answers, and that vulnerability is what makes the book so resonant. Instead of framing her journey as one of success or arrival, she invites the reader into the in-between moments—when the ground is still shaky, but the heart is beginning to beat with hope again. Overall, A Tree with My Name on It: Finding a Way Home is a quiet triumph of a memoir, filled with wisdom, courage, and the kind of honesty that lights the path forward. I would recommend it to memoir fans everywhere.
