What My Mother and I Don't Talk About

In this audiobook unflinching essayists peel back layers of long-held pain in their lives. Writer/editor Michele Filgate narrates the introduction in a tone of earnestness that pulls the listener in as she reflects on her life-changing essay about being abused by her stepfather, along with the universal expectations of motherhood. Fajer Al-Kaisi, Roger Casey, Janina Edwards, Emily Ellet, Cynthia Farrell, Soneela Nankani, and David Sadzin are the talented narrators who bring us the rest of the essays, which take a searing look at mothers of all types in a range of styles suited to each essay. The more deft performances in this collection also illuminate the subtle role of fathers in filtering or overshadowing a child's experience of their mother. Listeners will laugh, wince, and maybe cry. M.R. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine