Other People's Mothers, livre ebook

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.

Mrs. Mann: Or a Study of the Fates of Different Drummers

Mrs. Saunders: Or a Study of Origins in Odd and Even Numbers

Mrs. Lennox: Or a Study of Change as Crisis or Caricature

Mrs. Newport: Or a Study of Jealousy as a Blue-Eyed Monster

Mrs. Fischer: Or a Study of Minimalism with Natural and Synthetic Fibers

Mrs. Arlington: Or a Study of Apocalypse as an After-School Special

Mrs. Bigelow: Or a Study of Death as the Last Bouquet

Mrs. Magnussen: Or a Study of Desire That Doesn’t Cover All the Bases

Mrs. Williams: Or a Study of Postmodernism and the Many Ways That Walls Are Broken

Acknowledgments