Shadow Daughter: A Memoir of Estrangement, by Harriet Brown. Da Capo Press, 2018Harriet Brown admits she led a pretty good childhood; she was not physically abused (much), she had food and clothing, hers was not a broken home. But her mother was emotionally abusive, tearing Harriet down constantly. No one could praise Harriet without her mother ( Read more... )

Forgiveness Road, by Mandy Mikulencak. John Scognamiglio Books, 2019
On a Mississippi July morning sometime in the 1970s, 16 year old Cissy Pickering empties a gun into her father’s back. She does not explain, saying only that she had to do it to protect her younger sisters. Her mother, Caroline, turns against her, but her grandmother Janelle takes ( Read more... )

The Night Child, by Anna Quinn. Blackstone Publishing, 2018 Nora is a high school teacher with a knack for connecting with at risk students. She’s also the mother of a 5 year old daughter, and has a husband who is cheating on her, a fact which she is aware of but not wanting to deal with. One afternoon, sitting in her classroom after school, she ( Read more... )