Some writers produce historically important novels of our life and times. I’ve always preferred the “smaller,” timeless stories that dig deep into domestic lives and relationships. For me, the best adventures are always the psychological ones. The bond between mothers and daughters is a rich, if perhaps underexplored, source of literary tension. Often fraught and a battle between deep love and debilitating frustration, it’s the stuff of the highest drama. In The Youngster, the daughter and mother have landed in a place of mutual love, which is then tested by extraordinary – and shocking – circumstances.
This lesser-known psychological thriller by the celebrated crime writer takes us into the claustrophobic world of a dangerously dysfunctional mother and daughter relationship.
There’s nothing slight about this dark and twisty page-turner, which explores how parental obsession can be passed down so disastrously to the next generation.
A psychological thriller about an isolated young woman and her murderous mother from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Girl Next Door.
Far from London, the isolated estate called Shrove House looms over the English countryside. Inside, two women hide from the world. For sixteen years, Eve has protected her daughter, Liza, from the corrupting influence of modern life, never letting her outside, hiding her from those who visit, and killing to keep her safe. Raised in her mother’s shadow, Liza has never questioned that this is the way things must be—until the night the police come to call,…
Now considered one of the great depictions of a mother-daughter relationship, Sinclair’s 1919 autobiographical novel is about breaking free from gender constraints and expectations.
Although it’s told in such a “modern” voice, Sinclair’s important novel is set in a time when a daughter is considered lesser than her brothers and where a Victorian mother is not necessarily a girl’s greatest ally.
No novel of the war period made a more profound impression than did Miss Sinclair's "The Tree of Heaven." The announcement of a new book by this distinguished author is therefore most welcome.
A woman's life, her thoughts, sensations and emotions directly presented, without artificial narrative or analysis, without autobiography.
The main interest lies in Mary Olivier's search for Reality, her relations with her mother, father and three brothers, and her final passage from the bondage of infancy, the conflicts of childhood and adolescence, the disenchantments (and other drawbacks) of maturity, to the freedom, peace and happiness of middle-age.
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
This is a stimulating memoir about that peculiar love-hate battle between two strong-willed women who happen to be mother and daughter.
There were moments in this searingly honest biography where I felt complete fellow-feeling with the author, re-experiencing similar moments of drama in my own family.
The author recounts her childhood experiences living in a tenement, looks at her relationship with her mother, and describes the lives of women bound to husbands they didn't love
In this book, a widowed mother is shunted between three unwelcoming grown daughters in this touching and entertaining study of obsolescence.
If, like me, you lap up the ins and outs of family relationships and enjoy the flaws more than the perfections of human nature, then this is your next literary escape.
In this poignant novel, Monica Dickens explores the complexities of family relationships and the challenges of growing up. Set in England in the early 20th century, the story follows young Louise as she navigates the trials of adolescence and the demands of her unconventional family. With compassion and insight, the author captures the joys and sorrows of ordinary life, making this a timeless work of fiction.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
This is the fourth book in the Joplin/Halloran forensic mystery series, which features Hollis Joplin, a death investigator, and Tom Halloran, an Atlanta attorney.
It's August of 2018, shortly after the Republican National Convention has nominated Donald Trump as its presidential candidate. Racial and political tensions are rising, and so…
This selection is a bit of a cheat, given that the novel is about a mother and son (as told by Jack, the 5-year-old boy), but it’s also a moving evocation of maternal resilience under the most appalling circumstances.
I include it because this exceptional story strips bare the fundamental ties between a helpless child and a fiercely resourceful parent. And it’s a great read.
A major film starring Brie Larson. Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Shortlisted for the Orange Prize.
Picador Classics edition with an introduction by John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
Today I'm five. I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I wake up in Bed in the dark I'm changed to five, abracadabra.
Jack lives with his Ma in Room. Room has a single locked door and a skylight, and it measures ten feet by ten feet. Jack loves watching TV but he knows that nothing he sees on the screen…
A tense and heart-wrenching domestic thriller from the Lucy Cavendish 2020 Fiction Prize shortlisted author of The Watch.
No one comes between this mother and daughter. Georgie and her mother, Cherry, have had their ups and downs. But now they're devoted to each other – and when Cherry learns that she’s in the early stages of dementia, Georgie is with her every step of the way…until she can't be. And that's when he steps into her mother's life. The one who's been waiting, watching, whispering. In turns deeply moving and deeply chilling, The Youngster is about one woman's spiralling descent when her mother is taken away from her by a damaged younger man.
It began with a dying husband, and it ended in a dynasty.
It took away her husband’s pain on his deathbed, kept her from losing the family farm, gave her the power to build a thriving business, but it’s illegal to grow in every state in the country in 1978.…
The Not Quite Enlightened Sleuth
by
Verlin Darrow,
A Buddhist nun returns to her hometown and solves multiple murders while enduring her dysfunctional family.
Ivy Lutz leaves her life as a Buddhist nun in Sri Lanka and returns home to northern California when her elderly mother suffers a stroke. Her sheltered life is blasted apart by a series…
