When star of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Potomac Dr. Wendy Osefo was growing up, her mother was her everything. But when she became a mother herself, everything changed. In this “exquisitely-drawn portrait of the intense bond that only a mother can have with a daughter” (Katie Haufner, author of Mother Daughter Me), Wendy explores how her Nigerian upbringing has affected her life, her success, and her role as a parent. Wendy Osefo’s mother, Iyom Susan Okuzu, arrived in the United States from Nigeria with two things: a single suitcase and the fierce determination to make a better life for herself and her future family. And she succeeded: starting out working in a fast-food restaurant and ultimately becoming the director of nursing at a major metropolitan hospital. While Susan may have taken pride in triumphing over every financial and emotional challenge, in Nigerian culture, a parent is only as successful as his or her children. And so her daughter, with gratitude and appreciation for her mother’s sacrifices, worked hard to meet every demand Susan made of her. With four advanced degrees and a position at Johns Hopkins University as a professor—as well as being a highly sought-after political commentator, a cherished wife, and a loving mother of three—Dr. Wendy has given her mother bragging rights for life. But at what cost to herself? In Tears of My Mother, the star of The Real Housewives of Potomac describes growing up as a first-generation American, balancing two distinct cultures. And she takes a critical look at the paradox of her mother’s parenting: approval conditioned by achievement. As a teenager, Wendy struggled to carve out her own identity while still walking the narrow path of her mother’s expectations. Unwavering family loyalty and obedience gave Wendy the road map to making it in America, but it also drove a wedge between mother and daughter, never more so than when she began to build her own family. “A love letter to Dr. Osefo’s mother and first-generation immigrants all across America” (Library Journal), this book is for anyone who has faced conflict in the mother-daughter relationship or wondered how much of their own upbringing they want to pass on to the next generation.

The tragic true story of a mother who lost one daughter to a brutal murderer and another to a broken heart.

A Mother's Tears for a Missing Son is a first hand account of my personal journey when my son mysteriously disappears in remote Alaska wilderness. It describes the adventures of a free spirited young man who lived on the edge of life and whose choices brought him and his family to an unforeseen outcome of bizarre twists and turns. The expansiveness of the environment offers a setting where the unexpected can happen at a moment's notice. A Mother's Tears for a Missing Son is a story of hope, faith, and trust, with a determination to never give up. I struggled to maintain endurance and courage, through an intense time of grief. As the story unravels, I realized the many opportunities for growth as I navigated my way through a devastating experience with resilience and came to understand the need to fully embrace and process the grief – while enduring personal tragedy. Ultimately, a sense of peace predominates.

Abeny Kucha Tiir lived in Sudan during the civil war and genocide in her homeland of South Sudan before fleeing the country and immigrating to the United States.

Thirteen-year-old Ryan White contracted AIDS through tainted Factor VIII, administered for his hemophilia, and became nationally known through his family's fight against the bigotry and ignorance his illness revealed in their community. Now, Ryan's mother, Jeanne White, who helped her son discover the strength to overcome prejudice and the courage to face death, tells her inspiring story. of photos.

This daring speculative novel tackles terrorism and anti-immigrant hysteria, combining lyric intensity with the tools of science fiction.

Where do Petoskey stones come from? Based on a Native American legend a family learns the story of a natural wonder. Perhaps the answer lies in the discovery that Mother Bear has been leaving her tears all over the beaches of Lake Michigan for hundreds of years. Walk the shores of Lake Michigan with grandpa and his grandchildren on their rock hunting expedition, in search of the great Petoskey stone. Grandpa passes on the age old Ojibwe Sleeping Bear legend, and reveals the untold story of the Tears of Mother Bear.

“You will devour these beautifully written—and very important—tales of honesty, pain, and resilience” (Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of Eat Pray Love and City of Girls) from fifteen brilliant writers who explore how what we don’t talk about with our mothers affects us, for better or for worse. As an undergraduate, Michele Filgate started writing an essay about being abused by her stepfather. It took her more than a decade to realize that she was actually trying to write about how this affected her relationship with her mother. When it was finally published, the essay went viral, shared on social media by Anne Lamott, Rebecca Solnit, and many others. This gave Filgate an idea, and the resulting anthology offers a candid look at our relationships with our mothers. Leslie Jamison writes about trying to discover who her seemingly perfect mother was before ever becoming a mom. In Cathi Hanauer’s hilarious piece, she finally gets a chance to have a conversation with her mother that isn’t interrupted by her domineering (but lovable) father. André Aciman writes about what it was like to have a deaf mother. Melissa Febos uses mythology as a lens to look at her close-knit relationship with her psychotherapist mother. And Julianna Baggott talks about having a mom who tells her everything. As Filgate writes, “Our mothers are our first homes, and that’s why we’re always trying to return to them.” There’s relief in acknowledging how what we couldn’t say for so long is a way to heal our relationships with others and, perhaps most important, with ourselves. Contributions by Cathi Hanauer, Melissa Febos, Alexander Chee, Dylan Landis, Bernice L. McFadden, Julianna Baggott, Lynn Steger Strong, Kiese Laymon, Carmen Maria Machado, André Aciman, Sari Botton, Nayomi Munaweera, Brandon Taylor, and Leslie Jamison.

Some of Australia's best known writers share their wise and searingly honest experiences of losing a parent.

"A deeply personal landscape of revelation and loss that guides the reader toward catharsis." -- M. "Breathtaking." -- R. "These are some of the most beautiful poems I have ever read. I find myself reading them aloud, and I pause after each line. They resonate as when water droplets drop into water, outwards then inwards. I am crying right now." -- T. A few months after my mother died, I changed my name to Elyria. It was a rite of passage suggested by a dear friend who had lost a parent some years earlier. I wish my mother could read these poems. I know some of them would have made her cry, and sometimes that would have been what she needed. But more than that, I want you to read these poems. I know some of them will make you cry, and sometimes that will be what you need. I want you to read them, remember how to heal, learn to live with the hurts and the losses you carry -- take a deep breath -- and go on living. We are all alone in our grief, sometimes. But other times, we can take comfort in sharing our sorrow with those who understand loss. We come away stronger for it. That is my hope for you. all my love, Elyria