Women of Divorce: Mothers, Daughters, Stepmothers The New Triangle

by Susan Shapiro Barash

Although the divorce rate is skyrocketing, with one out of every two marriages ending in divorce and remarriages abounding, no one has explored the dynamics that take place between mothers, daughters and stepmothers. They must navigate these uncharted waters as they strive to forge new, meaningful relationships. In the past, the stepmother was considered "wicked" or "intrusive" -- a threat to both the mother and daughter, whose former lives have been displaced by divorce. Today, however, more and more stepmothers, daughters and mothers seek answers to their unresolved issues and expectations so that the daughter will reap the benefit of having two mother figures.

Barash's extensive, breakthrough research, with hundreds of interviews of mothers, step-mothers and daughters, combined with expert insights from psychologists, sociologists and divorce attorneys, explores the feelings and behaviors of all these women. This book examines how they can end the dark myths that surround their relationships and recognize and break free of unrewarding patterns. With these guidelines, the past can be left behind and healthy rules can be defined for new family structures.

Women of Divorce is a frank, supportive and valuable resource on female teamwork to resolve and prevent discord. It clearly shows mothers, daughters and stepmothers how to work together to obtain a new lease on family life.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Susan Shapiro Barash has written over a dozen nonfiction books, including Tripping the Prom Queen, You’re Grounded Forever, But First Let’s Go Shopping and Toxic Friends: The Antidote for Women Stuck in Complicated Friendships. For more than twenty years she taught gender studies in the Writing Department at Marymount Manhattan College and has guest taught creative nonfiction at the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. For her fiction, Between the Tides, A Palm Beach Wife, A Palm Beach Scandal, and Maribelle’s Shadow, she writes as Susannah Marren.

She has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Elle, Marie Claire, and has appeared on national television including the Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC. Barash has been a guest on national radio including NPR and Sirius Radio. Speaking appearances include Credit Suisse, Bayer Diagnostics, UBS, United Way, Kravis Center and the Society of the Four Arts.

In 2021 she received the New York State Assembly Member’s Exceptional Leadership Award, presented by Rebecca Seawright. The following year, Susan won the 2022 Speak Up Talk Radio Firebird Book Award for her novel A Palm Beach Wife.

She has served as a literary panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts, as a judge for the International Emmys, and as Vice Chair of the Mentoring Committee of the Women’s Leadership Board at the JFK School of Government, Harvard. Susan belongs to Greenwich Pen Women (Pen Women America), NYWIFT, the Authors Guild and ASJA.




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