23+ of the Best Books About Mother/Daughter Relationships
This Riot Recommendation is sponsored by Random House, publishers of My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout.
Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn’t spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy’s childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy’s life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two daughters. Knitting this powerful narrative together is the brilliant storytelling voice of Lucy herself: keenly observant, deeply human, and truly unforgettable.
Is there a relationship more potentially fraught than the one between a mother and her daughters? Such perfect fodder for fiction! We asked you to share your favorite reads about mother/daughter relationships and you answered. Here are 23 of your picks! Note: many of these authors have explored this theme in more than one of their books, so it’s worth checking out other titles by them, too. The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty Circle of Three by Patricia Gaffney Don’t Call Me Baby by Gwendolyn Heasley Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan The Honey Thief by Elizabeth Graver Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou Mommie Dearest by Christina Crawford The Moon Sisters by Therese Walsh One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinsky Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum White Oleander by Janet Fitch The Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah A Yellow Raft in Blue Waters by Michael Dorris You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott
Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn’t spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy’s childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy’s life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two daughters. Knitting this powerful narrative together is the brilliant storytelling voice of Lucy herself: keenly observant, deeply human, and truly unforgettable.
Is there a relationship more potentially fraught than the one between a mother and her daughters? Such perfect fodder for fiction! We asked you to share your favorite reads about mother/daughter relationships and you answered. Here are 23 of your picks! Note: many of these authors have explored this theme in more than one of their books, so it’s worth checking out other titles by them, too. The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty Circle of Three by Patricia Gaffney Don’t Call Me Baby by Gwendolyn Heasley Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan The Honey Thief by Elizabeth Graver Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou Mommie Dearest by Christina Crawford The Moon Sisters by Therese Walsh One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinsky Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum White Oleander by Janet Fitch The Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah A Yellow Raft in Blue Waters by Michael Dorris You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott
