Mothers: The Good Stuff, The Hard Stuff

In this deeply etched and haunting memoir, Vivian Gornick tells the story of her lifelong battle with her mother for independence. There have been numerous books about mother and daughter, but none has dealt with this closest of filial relations as directly or as ruthlessly. Gornick's groundbreaking book confronts what Edna O'Brien has called "the prinicpal crux of female despair": the unacknowledged oedipal nature of the mother-daughter bond. Born...

"For more than a decade, Jenna Metcalf has never stopped thinking about her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in the wake of a tragic accident. Refusing to believe that she would be abandoned as a young child, Jenna searches for her mother regularly online and pores over the pages of Alice's old journals. A scientist who studied grief among elephants, Alice wrote mostly of her research among the animals she loved, yet Jenna hopes the entries...

"A senior partner at a prestigious New York law firm, Kate Morgan couldn't be prouder of her three grown children. Tamara, Anthony, and Claire all went to great schools, chose wonderful career paths, and would have made their father proud. A single mother for years after the death of her husband, Kate keeps a tight rein on her family, her career, and even her own emotions, never once asking herself if she truly knows her children . . . or if her hopes...

"Thirty-three-year-old Abby Stern has made it to a happy place. True, she still has gig jobs instead of a career, and the apartment where she's lived since college still looks like she's just moved in. But she's got good friends, her bike, and her bicycling club. She's at peace with her plus-size body--at least, most of the time--and she's on track to marry Mark Medoff, her childhood summer sweetheart, a man she met at the weight-loss camp that her...

In the spirit of How to Make an American Quilt and The Joy Luck Club comes this novel about friendship and redemption. After the sudden loss of Stella, her only child, Mary Baxter joins a knitting circle in Providence, Rhode Island. Seeking a way to fill the empty hours and lonely days, she little realizes that the circle will change her life. Alice, Scarlet, Lulu, Beth, Harriet, and Ellen welcome Mary into their circle despite her reluctance to open...

A poignant, evocative story that celebrates the magic of motherhood, the joys of coming home, and the price we so willingly pay for love. Years of trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child have broken more than Angie DeSaria's heart. Following a painful divorce, she moves back to her small Pacific Northwest hometown and takes over management of her family's restaurant. In West End, where life rises and falls like the tides, Angie's fortunes will...

The authors of Christmas Miracles deliver true stories that show just how enduring a mother's remarkable love can be.

A young boy grows to manhood and old age experiencing the love and generosity of a tree which gives to him without thought of return.

Lorelai and Rory are a mother and daughter who are sharing life's ups and downs in a small town in Connecticut. This heartfelt, humorous drama appeals to young and old alike with it's blend of traditional family issues and hip attitude.

"One Perfect Lie is an emotional thriller and a suburban crime story that will keep you guessing until you turn the very last page. On the surface, it tells the tale of the struggling single mother of a high-school pitcher, a shy kid so athletically talented that he's being recruited for a full-ride scholarship to a Division I college, with a future in major-league baseball. But the mother fears that she's losing her grip on her son because he's being...