Told from her cell in the mental ward, a girl envelops us in her life of pain and madness as she yearns for the love of her soulless mother, aching for the precious warmth of her mother's touch. A tragic tale of sweet insanity. Cast: 1 Female

Filled with Scripture verses, poetry, art, photos, and personal essays by popular authors, My Mother's Hands creates a wonderful, beautiful tribute to mothers.

Drawn from the author's own experiences, a moving volume transcends this mortal realm by sharing true accounts of women whose mothers contacted them from beyond the grave, including the mother who saved her daughter from a fatal car crash by warning her in a dream to one daughter's chance encounter with a stunning stranger who resembled her late mother.

Memories of Mother Inspiring Real-Life Stories of How Mothers Touch Our Lives Few people touch us more meaningfully than a mother. From our first breath through all the highs and lows of life, our mothers help shape us into the people we become-the people we are today. In Memories of Mother you'll read about: A tiny bloom that has the power to unite a daughter and her dying mother A YWCA uniform handmade for a daughter by a mother who sacrificed A childhood encounter with the "Tooth Fairy" in a shimmery green dress The gift of music given to a son by a mother who cared A haircut gone awry with a mother's addition of bug spray A mother capable of transforming a mundane school day into a fairy tale A lavender ribbon with the power to invoke memories of a mother's love Let Memories of Mother stir up your faith and remind you that mothers are God's special gift to children!

The New York Times–bestselling graphic memoir about Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home, becoming the artist her mother wanted to be. Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home was a pop culture and literary phenomenon. Now, a second thrilling tale of filial sleuthery, this time about her mother: voracious reader, music lover, passionate amateur actor. Also a woman, unhappily married to a closeted gay man, whose artistic aspirations simmered under the surface of Bechdel's childhood…and who stopped touching or kissing her daughter good night, forever, when she was seven. Poignantly, hilariously, Bechdel embarks on a quest for answers concerning the mother-daughter gulf. It's a richly layered search that leads readers from the fascinating life and work of the iconic twentieth-century psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, to one explosively illuminating Dr. Seuss illustration, to Bechdel’s own (serially monogamous) adult love life. And, finally, back to Mother—to a truce, fragile and real-time, that will move and astonish all adult children of gifted mothers. A New York Times, USA Today, Time, Slate, and Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Year “As complicated, brainy, inventive and satisfying as the finest prose memoirs.”—New York Times Book Review “A work of the most humane kind of genius, bravely going right to the heart of things: why we are who we are. It's also incredibly funny. And visually stunning. And page-turningly addictive. And heartbreaking.”—Jonathan Safran Foer “Many of us are living out the unlived lives of our mothers. Alison Bechdel has written a graphic novel about this; sort of like a comic book by Virginia Woolf. You won't believe it until you read it—and you must!”—Gloria Steinem

In the United States we are reluctant to acknowledge that females ever molest children; maternal incest frequently occurs undetected. Mother-daughter sexual abuse, especially, is under-recognized, under-researched and under-reported. A Mother's Touch is a powerful combination of personal memoir and professional narrative. Focusing on child sexual abuse research and drawing on her own childhood experiences, the author describes the complex mother-daughter incestuous relationship, which includes extreme maternal narcissism and manipulations, coercion and control. Physical and psychological boundaries are violated daily; abusive acts are repeatedly framed as normal and loving. With A Mother's Touch: Surviving Mother-Daughter Sexual Abuse, mental health and child welfare professionals can learn more about covert and exploitative mother-child behavior, various overt sexual behaviors initiated by mothers, and the psychological manipulations used to control and to silence child victims. Six key issues for therapy and victim recovery are described at length. The transition from victim to survivor is seen as essential-not just for the individual's recovery-but also to prevent child sexual abuse in successive generations. The author's descriptions of her unusual childhood experiences with her college-educated, normal-looking mother and traditional, military father are augmented with professional insights. The portrayal of her bizarre mother-daughter relationship fashions a powerful human-interest story and increases both professionals' and the general readers' awareness of mother-daughter incest. The author's blend of humor, sass and concrete examples adds to the book's fast-paced readability. Highly recommended also for survivors of abuse and for their significant others who seek to understand.

“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.

This book not only celebrates the wonder of being a mom, but also unfolds the incredible difference a mom makes in the lives of her children. It pays tribute to mothers everywhere with heartfelt words and stunning visual images. 13 essays by sons and daughters honor the writers' own mothers. Within each section, ordinary moms from around the country share in their own words the joy, the pain, the marvel of being a mom. More than 150 inspirational photos capture intimate and precious moments of a mother's life. Punctuated with verses from the Bible, and emphasizing Christian values and family.

Who was your mother before she was a mother? Essays and photos from Brit Bennett, Jennifer Egan, Danzy Senna, Laura Lippman, Jia Tolentino, and many more. In this remarkable collection, New York Times–bestselling novelist Edan Lepucki gathers more than sixty original essays and favorite photographs to explore this question. The daughters in Mothers Before are writers and poets, artists and teachers, and the images and stories they share reveal the lives of women in ways that are vulnerable and true, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always moving. Contributors include: Brit Bennett * Jennine Capó Crucet * Jennifer Egan * Angela Garbes * Annabeth Gish * Alison Roman * Lisa See * Danzy Senna * Dana Spiotta * Lan Samantha Chang * Laura Lippman * Jia Tolentino * Tiffany Nguyen * Charmaine Craig * Maya Ramakrishnan * Eirene Donohue * and many others

Chronicles a girl's relationship with her mother, from childhood to adulthood, through her memories of her mother's hands