Description of Mothers & Daughters:
Samantha is lost in the joys of new motherhood—the softness of her eight-month-old daughter’s skin, the lovely weight of her child in her arms—but in trading her artistic dreams to care for her child, Sam worries she’s lost something of herself. And she is still mourning another loss: her mother, Iris, died just one year ago.
When a box of Iris’s belongings arrives on Sam’s doorstep, she discovers links to pieces of her family history but is puzzled by much of the information the box contains. She learns that her grandmother Violet left New York City as an eleven-year-old girl, traveling by herself to the Midwest in search of a better life. But what was Violet’s real reason for leaving? And how could she have made that trip alone at such a tender age?
In confronting secrets from her family’s past, Sam comes to terms with deep secrets from her own. Moving back and forth in time between the stories of Sam, Violet, and Iris, Mothers and Daughters is the spellbinding tale of three remarkable women connected across a century by the complex wonder of motherhood.
My Review:
This book explored the three women in alternating chapters. Meadows a great job getting to the root of each of the mother’s lives with her richly textured, yet simple prose. The modern day, Samantha was my least favorite part of the book. Her character seemed forced to me and not very authentic, yet I can’t really explain why I feel that way.
Violet was my favorite character, I’m sure in big part, because I love historical characters and stories. Her mother abandoned her and she was sent away on an “orphan train” stopping in different cities to be paraded with other children for people to adopt. I really didn’t want this part of the story to end. In fact, I would love it if Rae Meadows wrote an entire book based on Violet!
Over all, I really enjoyed this book and the exploration of mother and daughter relationships.
4/5
I was sent an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher. Receiving a free copy of this book has in no way influenced my review.
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