What My Mother Gave Me
Thirty-One Women on the Gifts That Mattered Most
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- £10.99
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- £10.99
Publisher Description
New York Times Bestseller: “A winning collection” of essays by daughters including Elinor Lipman, Margo Jefferson, Jean Hanff Korelitz, Lisa See, and more (Kirkus Reviews).
Each of these thirty-one “beautifully crafted” essays (Publishers Weekly) is a story about a mother’s gift to a daughter—one that touched her, taught her something, or symbolized a unique bond. Whether a gift was meant to keep a daughter warm, instruct her in the ways of womanhood, encourage her talents, or just remind her of a mother’s love, each story gets to the heart of a relationship.
Rita Dove recalls the box of polish that inspired her to paint her nails in the stripes and polka dots she wears to this day. Lisa See writes about the gift of writing from her mother, Carolyn See. Cecilia Muñoz remembers the wok her mother gave her and a lifetime of family meals. Judith Hillman Paterson revisits the year of sobriety her mother bequeathed to her when Paterson was nine, the year before her mother died of alcoholism. Abigail Pogrebin describes her middle-aged bat mitzvah, for which her mother provided flowers after a lifetime of guilt for skipping her daughter’s religious education. Margo Jefferson writes about her mother’s gold dress from the posh department store where they could finally shop as black women.
Collectively, the pieces have a force that feels as elemental as the tides: outpourings of lightness and darkness; love and rage; joy and grief. From literary prize winners, bestselling authors, and other celebrated women, they are “as varied and unexpected and eloquent and moving as mother love itself” (Cathleen Schine, New York Times-bestselling author of The Grammarians).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this moving collection edited by novelist Benedict (Almost), 31 notable women, including award-winning poets and novelists, examine their relationships with their mothers. Some celebrate the relationship, as with Cecilia Munoz in "The Wok." Others seek to understand why their experience was not the stuff of fairy tales, as with Sheila Kohler's "Love Child." Others celebrate the quirkiness of their mothers, as with Elinor Lipman's charming essay, "Julia's Child," about her mother's extreme dislike of condiments. Lisa See writes movingly of following in her mother's footsteps as a writer in "A Thousand Words a Day and One Charming Note," while Charlotte Silver revels in her exuberant mother's ability to use fashion as personal expression in "Her Favorite Neutral." And sadly, others seek to overcome the pain of loss, as in Judith Hillman Paterson's "The Gift Twice Given," Joyce Carol Oates's "Quilts," and Karen Karbo's "White Gloves and Party Manners." Each essay is beautifully crafted, and editor Benedict provides the perfect balance of emotions. For anyone trying to understand mother-daughter relationships, this collection provides the answer.