What My Mother Gave Me

January 7, 2013
In this moving collection edited by novelist Benedict (Almost), 31 notable women, including award-winning poets and novelists, examine their relationships with their mothers. Some celebrate the relationship, as with Cecilia Munoz in “The Wok.” Others seek to understand why their experience was not the stuff of fairy tales, as with Sheila Kohler’s “Love Child.” Others celebrate the quirkiness of their mothers, as with Elinor Lipman’s charming essay, “Julia’s Child,” about her mother’s extreme dislike of condiments. Lisa See writes movingly of following in her mother’s footsteps as a writer in “A Thousand Words a Day and One Charming Note,” while Charlotte Silver revels in her exuberant mother’s ability to use fashion as personal expression in “Her Favorite Neutral.” And sadly, others seek to overcome the pain of loss, as in Judith Hillman Paterson’s “The Gift Twice Given,” Joyce Carol Oates’s “Quilts,” and Karen Karbo’s “White Gloves and Party Manners.” Each essay is beautifully crafted, and editor Benedict provides the perfect balance of emotions. For anyone trying to understand mother-daughter relationships, this collection provides the answer. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman.

July 15, 2013
Thirty-one essays by mothers and daughters, refracting the light of motherhood in unusual and beautiful directions. "Every day should be Mother's Day." That's what many mothers say every year, and correctly. Mothers, mamas, moms--they give more of themselves than is reasonable. "A mother is a person who, seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie," said Tenneva Jordan, a woman famous primarily for that statement. There are entire libraries' worth of books about mothers, which include quotations, aphorisms, devotionals and essays. This collection, edited by novelist Benedict (Almost, 2001, etc.), would likely be shelved with those many others, but it deserves a place front and center. Contributors include a mix of well-known writers (Ann Hood, Mary Gordon, Elinor Lipman, Joyce Carol Oates, Roxana Robinson, etc.) with others still on the rise. Oates writes about a quilt passed down through the years. Emma Straub chronicles a cruise gifted to her by her mother; she describes it as "the maritime version of No Exit." Maud Newton writes about how she and her mother circle each other warily, their orbits held by a love of literature. Other contributors include Elissa Schappell, Marge Piercy, Luanne Rice, Eleanor Clift, Lisa See and Margo Jefferson, and all contribute thoughtful, unexpected and fresh takes on their mothers and daughters. "Each of the contributors," writes Benedict in the introduction, "describes a gift from her mother--three-dimensional, experiential, a work habit, a habit of being, a way of seeing the world--that magically, movingly reveals the story of her mother and of their relationship." A winning collection--think of it as an extra slice of pie set aside for mom.

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