Every May we celebrate Mother’s Day filled with candy, cards and flowers, sometimes even breakfast in bed! We honor the women who care for others, the generations that came before and those that raised us. These five timeless books beautifully share one of life’s most complicated and rewarding relationships.
My Name is Lucy Barton
By Elizabeth Strout
Lucy Barton lies in the hospital after a routine surgery that has unexpectedly left her very ill. The doctors have it under control, but Lucy is beginning to despair. As a young mother she misses her two daughters, her husband and the life she meticulously created after escaping a tumultuous childhood. Shockingly, her mother, from whom she has been estranged for years, refuses to leave her side. With an invisible thread, Lucy reconnects with her parent through memories they begin to share with each other in detail. She is astounded and thankful to learn that the mother-daughter bond can never truly be erased.
Gift From the Sea
By Anne Morrow Lindbergh
In this magnificent collection of essays by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, it’s as if time stands still. As the wife of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, Anne’s desires and talents were often pushed aside. It was only when she found solitude vacationing on Florida’s Captiva Island in the early 1950s that this poetic, magical writer poured her heart into these pages. Anne captures the enduring essence of women — as mothers, sisters and friends. More than 65 years after its original publication, every word remains true. Like the mesmerizing blue ocean waves, it is the author’s never-ending gift to us.
Not Becoming My Mother: And Other Things She Taught Me Along The Way
By Ruth Reichl
Given the opportunity to explore a box of old letters and journals, this incredible author pieces together a new and different mother. Ruth Reichl is an accomplished memoirist, writer, editor and cook. This novelette examines her mother, the most important, noteworthy and influential person in her life, but one she never fully understood. What an amazing revelation to finally perceive your mother as an individual, a “person,” to appreciate that you are a part of her life but her life existed before you. A mother’s desires, dreams, regrets and fears are everlasting and the author understands this all too late.
Mom & Me & Mom
By Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou details her abandonment and lifelong reunion with her dynamic, brilliant and feisty mother. Vivian Baxter sent 3-year-old Maya and 5-year-old brother Bailey to Arkansas to be raised by their paternal grandmother. After 10 long, but loving, years they returned to San Francisco and the home of Vivian, whom young Maya called “Lady.” Although at times a very bumpy road, Maya’s mother never passed up a moment or opportunity to encourage her daughter’s limitless talents. She was blessed to have Vivian in her life and double blessed to have the ability to look back with such loving reflection.
Mother Daughter Me
By Katie Hafner
Insightful, sensitive memoir following journalist Katie Hafner as she progresses through her experimental living arrangements with her 77-year-old mother and 16-year-old daughter. Katie, widowed at a young age, and her mother, who has recently separated, find themselves roommates for the first time in many years. While they always maintained contact, Katie desperately craved more closeness, approval and love than seemed available. After a challenging childhood, she struggled through her parents’ divorce, mother’s alcoholism, multiple moves and deep loneliness — always hoping for her mother’s friendship. Instead of “woe is me,” Katie forges forward, searching for happiness, understanding and truth.
