Death of a Mother: Daughters' Stories

by Rosa Ainley (Editor)

This collection of over thirty non-fiction pieces by women about the death of their mothers spans a startlingly diverse range of emotions and experience, ranging from hatred and relief to deepest love and despair. The common theme for all is their eschewing of conventional wisdom, both about relations between mothers and daughters and about grief. Some pieces are funny, others very raw, but all are deeply felt.
Collected here are contributions from well-known writers - including poems from May Sarton and Marilyn Hacker - as well as new writers. With a foreword by psychologist Dorothy Rowe, this book will be of great interest not only to those of us who have already experienced our mother's death, but to anyone who wants to gain insights into one of the most difficult and enlightening emotional journeys most of us will ever make.

Genres: Nonfiction

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Shirley Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am one of the authors in it. I learnt a lot about myself whilst writing it.

[Edwina Book Anaconda · Rating 1 out of 5]

"I hated my Mother and my Mother hated me. I was glad she was dead."

What a horrible, toxic book this is ... hate oozing from its pages.
Not at all what I expected it to be.
Yes, the Mothers did deserve the hate that the daughters lavished upon them but I just wasn't prepared to read an entire book of horror stories about abusive Mothers.
*Shudders*

[s st clair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Proud to have been a contributor. Someone talked about hate in their review. But all mothers are hated, as well as loved. Just watch a young child. Our emotions are complex, and the attempts in this book to express that ever changing complexity are brave and worthy. A sentimental image of motherhood does no-one any favours.