Mothers and Daughters: From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes a captivating family drama

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This was a captivating story that I really enjoyed. It’s my first read from James and I hope it won’t be my last, because this book was such a good novel. I liked James’ story-telling, exploring the connections between three women that goes beyond just being mother and daughter. The Mothers and Daughters of the Bible Speak shows that faith is more often a twisting road than a straight line. Yet, as the stories of biblical families attest, at the end of these journeys lies greater peace and joy than we could ever imagine. Instead we get a collaboration of stories featuring, Mothers & Daughters, Fathers & Daughters, and Mothers & Sons, and then a brief section on Miracles & Mothers. At first, Astrid looked up to her intelligent and beautiful mother, but when Ingrid is convicted of murder and sent to prison, everything changes for her. She is placed in foster care, where she must adapt to a new environment and learn new rules at each new residence. Oprah Winfrey chose White Oleanderas as a book club option and narrated the audio CD because of Astrid's commitment to learn to live motherless. No More Perfect Moms: Learn to Love Your Real Life by Jill Savage The author also convincingly captured the range of emotions and tensions which can arise when a widowed parent begins a new relationship, only to find their happiness threatened by disapproval from adult offspring. Without introducing any spoilers by giving examples, there were moments when I found myself feeling furious with Martha’s controlling, manipulative behaviour as she attempted to derail her mother’s relationship with Ellis!

Mothers and Daughters by Erica James | Goodreads

Whilst there are some emotional issues explored in this story, I thought the ending was uplifting and optimistic. I enjoyed seeing Willow and Martha come together as sisters, and then become accepting of their mother’s decisions. Family life is emphasised in this story, but also the importance of friendship and independence. It sends some significant messages to readers about acceptance of life choices and I appreciate this moral message that James is trying to convey. Well worth the read. I thought the author did a perfect job of blending all the different personalities and showing how they each reacted to change and personal challenges – as well as focusing on the difficulties that arise when someone wants to reclaim their own life in the face of opposition from others. Mothers and Daughters follows Mum Naomi, her two grown up daughters Martha and Willow, and their partners. Martha and Willow are completely different from each other. Will their differences separate them or can they come together when they need each other most? While this is an unsparing look at the tolls of age, sexism, religious repression and life on the economic edge, it’s also a clarion call for women of all ages to “learn to fight.” Despite having lost her other daughter and her husband, the family matriarch remains resolute and engaged. She repeatedly advises her daughter and granddaughter that there is a flame in each of us. And it’s our duty to feed it and keep it from going out – no matter what the world may throw our way. Naomi was suddenly widowed a couple of years ago, but has remained in Tilsham by the sea, rebuilding her life and generally feeling contentThe real drama begins when we discover that Naomi, in her middle sixties, has met a man, Ellis, and is having a serious relationship with him. He has rented the house next door to Naomi by chance before discovering they were at university together. The two girls think it is far too soon for Naomi to move on and are very reluctant to meet Ellis. They think he must be a man on the make and do not know of their history. Martha in particular, having been so close to her father and being very touchy because she failed to become pregnant is particularly against the poor man. These are changing times for all of them and the author has done a wonderful job of capturing the different emotions that each family member goes through, and the impact on the other people in their life. I just adored the interaction between the family and the discovery of things that happened in the past that the mother kept from the girls really added to the drama. Mothers and Daughters is a mainstream pop novel about four women. I’m the wrong gender to judge if he got the emotional issues right, but I detected no false notes. And the great thing about Evan Hunter is that you detect nothing about the writing, it’s invisible. The story flows like a river. She searched his face, open and sweet, he has such a sweet face, she thought. She reached up and touched his mouth with one ungloved hand. Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for giving me an e-book copy of this novel for a review.

Mothers and Daughters by Evan Hunter | Goodreads Mothers and Daughters by Evan Hunter | Goodreads

The other niggle was the way one of the characters were dealt with at the end. They had become an inconvenience and it seems as though the author didn���t really know what to do with them. Even happy families have their secrets… A sweeping family drama of old secrets and new beginnings from the Sunday Times bestselling author Erica James. Jochebed, mother of Moses, Aaron and Miriam - loved Miriam's part in the life of Moses. Appreciated Jochebed's role as their mother. You don’t have to be a mother or a daughter to know that mother-daughter relationships are complicated. No two dynamics are the same, and even in the presence of big love, myriad complex emotions often accompany this unique and important bond. Whether our mothers are our best friends, worst enemies or anything in between, one thing is for sure: a daughter’s relationship to her mother will shape her in ways both obvious and less apparent.Here are ten great reads on mother-daughter relationships in all of their beautiful, complicated, multi-layered glory. Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein Elizabeth and Mary - Bream explained their relationship in a way that I had not gone deep enough to understand, before.Mothers and Daughter is both a compelling and hugely relatable family drama centred around recently widowed sixty-three-year-old Naomi and her thirty-something adult daughters, Martha and Willow, as they move forward with their lives. Just over two years ago, Naomi’s husband, Colin, and the father of both her daughters, died suddenly leaving her a widow in the Tilsham cottage the family once shared. Having rebuilt her life and reconnected by random chance with Ellis, a friend from university, Naomi is ready to start afresh but worried about both her daughter’s reaction to a new man, especially that of Martha who idolised her father. The truth of the marriage and the real man behind Colin’s bonhomie is something that Naomi has kept from both her daughters, but as Martha and Naomi each meet Ellis, they are harbouring concerns of their own..