Celebration of Motherhood

Celebrate Mother's Day by enjoying titles that reflect on the true sense of the spirit of motherhood, with all its ups and downs, joys and sorrows.


The Three Daughters of Madame Liang
Buck, Pearl S.



 Madame Liang had sent her three daughters--Grace, Mercy and Joy--to America for safety and an education, while she herself continued to hold a fairly secure position as owner of a "fashionable" restaurant. However, Madame is forced to send for Grace, now a doctor, to apply her knowledge to China, which Grace is willing to do. Mercy, married to scientist John Sung, also returns so that they may share their country's future. Madame Liang, still retaining her faith in the eventual triumph of the real spirit of the Chinese people, is beaten to death by Red Guards. Inheriting her mother's stubborn dedication to the Eternal Way, Grace is determined to preserve the best of old and new through her marriage to the man of the people she loves.

The Secret Between Us
Delinsky, Barbara 



Deborah Monroe and her daughter, Grace, are driving home from a party when their car hits a man running in the dark. Grace was at the wheel, but Deborah sends her home before the police arrive, determined to shoulder the blame for the accident. Her decision then turns into a deception that takes on a life of its own and threatens the special bond between mother and daughter.

Firefly Lane
Hannah, Kristen


Tully Hart and Kate Mularkey come from different backgrounds: vivacious Tully has been abandoned by her hippie mother while studious Kate comes from a stable and loving family. After a devastating incident at a party, 14-year-old Tully finds herself confiding in Kate, thus beginning their unlikely friendship. Through dogged determination, ambitious Tully, who longs to be an anchorwoman, manages to secure them both jobs at a small television station after college; but while Tully pursues her dream of being a reporter, Kate falls for their handsome boss. The women's friendship remains strong as Tully fights her way to the top of the journalistic ladder and Kate finds a new purpose in motherhood, until a betrayal and a tragedy threaten their long-standing bond. 

Unaccustomed Earth: Stories
Lahiri, Jhumpa



Lahiri returns to the short story, the form that earned her the Pulitzer Prize for her debut, Interpreter of Maladies (1999).  This collection's five powerful stories and haunting triptych of tales about the fates of two Bengali families in America map the perplexing hidden forces that pull families asunder and undermine marriages. The title story, dramatizes the divide between immigrant parents and their American-raised children, and is the first of several scathing inquiries into the lack of deep-down understanding and trust in a marriage between a Bengali and non-Bengali. An inspired miniaturist, Lahiri creates a lexicon of loaded images.

Labor Day
Maynard, Joyce



In her sixth novel, Maynard (To Die For ) tells the story of a long weekend and its repercussions through the eyes of a then 13-year-old boy, Henry, who lives with his divorced mother, Adele. On Labor Day weekend, Henry manages to coax his mother, who rarely goes out, into a trip to PriceMart, where they run into Frank, who intimidates them into giving him a ride. Frank, it turns out, is an escaped convict looking for a place to hide. He holds Adele and Henry hostage in their home, an experience that changes all of them forever, whether it's Frank tying Adele to the kitchen chair with her silk scarves and lovingly feeding her or teaching the awkward, unathletic Henry how to throw a baseball. The bizarre situation encompasses Henry's budding adolescence, the awakening of his sexuality and his fear of being abandoned by his mother and Frank, who are falling in love and planning to run away together.

Mothers and Sons
Toibin, Colm



The collection's title indicates the general theme upon which each story elaborates--each story taking the theme in its own direction. Whether in a 9-page sketch of an inadvertent encounter in a pub between an estranged mother, who is a famous singer, and her grown son, or a 70-page, more fully wide-ranging scenario involving a runaway mother, his exacting control over both form and material never varies; in other words, his adaptability in writing short or long, and in working with characters far different from one another, is astonishing.