You can try and stop it, but there's no use; we're all guilty. Everyone puts a little autobiography in their work, no matter the subject. Author Richard Russo has reflected on his life and small town upbringing through his award winning fiction for the last 26 years. In his new book "Elsewhere," though, all ciphers are thrown out the window. This is Russo unvarnished.

Russo's first work of formal nonfiction, "Elsewhere" examines his childhood growing up in Gloversville, New York - a city that served as the basis for towns in his books like "Mohawk," and "The Risk Pool" - and his devoted, tumultuous relationship with his mother throughout the years.

"Anyone familiar with Richard Russo's acclaimed novels will recognize Gloversville once famous for producing that eponymous product and anything else made of leather," says publisher Knopf in its description. "This is where the author grew up, the only son of an aspirant mother and a charming, feckless father who were born into this close-knit community. But by the time of his childhood in the 1950s, prosperity was inexorably being replaced by poverty and illness (often tannery-related), with everyone barely scraping by under a very low horizon."

"A world elsewhere was the dream his mother instilled in Rick, and strived for herself, and their subsequent adventures and tribulations in achieving that goal-beautifully recounted here-were to prove lifelong, as would Gloversville's fearsome grasp on them both. Fraught with the timeless dynamic of going home again, encompassing hopes and fears and the relentless tides of familial and individual complications, this story is arresting, comic, heartbreaking, and truly beautiful, an immediate classic."

Many critics regard Russo as the best writer of small-town American since Sherwood Anderson and Sinclair Lewis. "He doesn't over-sentimentalize [small towns]," said Maureen Corrigan, the book critic for NPR's "Fresh Air." He also doesn't condescend when portraying the dreams and hardships of his blue-collar characters. "I come from a blue-collar family myself and I think he gets the class interactions; he just really nails class in his novels," said Corrigan.

"Elsewhere" is already gathering acclaim for its frank, but lyrical portrayal of his mother's struggle with mental illness and, and his unwavering support. Elle readers recently voted Russo's memoir as their December Book Pick.

Russo is best known for his Pulitzer Price winning 2001 novel, "Empire Falls," which is "a brilliant, tragicomic set-piece that explores past and present relationships in a once-thriving Maine town whose textile mill and shirt factory have gone bust," said Elle.

Elle's readers enthusiastically endorsed Russo's memoir, lauding his heartfelt honesty.

"Russo's strength as a novelist comes through in this story of his own life. The prose is descriptive, the narrative flows well, and his struggle to understand his mother is heart-wrenching. It becomes clear to us that writing this text was a way for Russo to work through all the demons that had plagued him throughout his relationship with his mother, and the guilt he felt for never having realized her illness. A beautiful book," said Joanna Russell Bliss of Atlanta, GA.

Russo himself echoed that sentiment in a recent interview with The Daily Beast.

"I think the best memoirs read like novels, which means, among other things, that the writer must decide what fits the narrative arc and what doesn't," said Russo.

He continued: "The fact that something actually happened doesn't mean it should be included. A memoirist isn't free to invent, but the shape of the story is up to him. He decides - as in a novel - how and where the story begins (near the end, in this case). He also chooses, just as a novelist does, when to summarize and when time should slow down for a dramatic scene."

After eight successful books of fiction, Russo finally decided to turn the camera directly on his own life when he lost his mother; "Elsewhere" serves as both a portrait and a tribute to their intense, often troubled, but loving relationship.

He wrote the memoir now because, "In the months after my mother's death, I thought about her constantly, and she was visiting my dreams, as well. All of which suggested there was unfinished business," said Russo to The New York Times.

"My last three novels had all featured characters who were puzzled by destiny, asking themselves, "How did I end up here?" Now I found myself puzzling over the same issues with regard to my mother's life and my own. We shared both a genetic (highly obsessive) nature as well as strikingly similar nurture, having grown up in the same small upstate New York mill town. How could our destinies have diverged so radically? It seemed worth investigating," he said.

"Elsewhere" is available now.