Other People's Mothers

A nostalgic and poignant coming-of-age
story told through one young woman’s relationships with the mother figures in
her life



Relationships
between mothers and daughters can often be complicated and fraught. Even in the
best of circumstances, many of us may have grown up curious about the mothers
of our friends—looking to them, learning from them (for better or for worse), and
wondering what it would be like to be a part of their families.

Other
People’s Mothers
is a collection of interconnected, autobiographical essays that explore the
relationship between a daughter, her mother, and the other mothers present in
their lives. In this coming-of-age memoir, Julie Marie Wade traces a nexus of
female influences on her formative years in the ’80s and ’90s.
Through words and actions, the women around her communicate powerful and often
contradictory messages about class, religion, education, and morality, holding
enormous power over Wade’s journey toward adulthood.

In
expanding her exploration of motherhood and daughterhood to include these “other
mothers,” Wade takes a new and surprising kaleidoscopic approach to her
portrayals of family life. This book reveals a young woman in the late twentieth
century grappling with gendered expectations, beauty and body ideals, and
complex messages about who she is permitted—or destined—to become.