​            Terese Marie Mailhot’s memoir Heart Berries shares the difficult moments, revelations, and adversity she has faced throughout her life, and how these specifically relate to her as an Indigenous woman. However, at the core, this is a novel about her mother. Mailhot comes to terms with her mother’s treatment of her and perhaps even begins to understand who she really was. 

​His Favorites follows Jo, a woman reflecting on the traumas she experienced when she was 15 years old. Through a series of flashbacks and current reflections, Jo tells the reader (and a mystery person I won’t spoil here) her story. She is not only dealing with the death of her best friend, Stephanie, but sexual assault and an absentee mother.

If you know the tale of Antigone, then you also know the basic plot of Home Fire, as Shamsie stays faithful to Sophocles’ play. Even the names of her characters pay homage to the play (Isma = Ismene, Aneeka = Antigone, etc.)! The wonderful thing is how Shamsie updates this story to the modern day, and frames it around the British Muslim identity. She explores what it means to be a British Muslim, dysfunctional family relationships, terrorist organizations, political protests, fatherhood, and how these things intersect.

The Incendiaries by R. O. Kwon tells the story of a woman named Phoebe, who begins as a flippant college student and is slowly drawn into Jejah, a new Christian cult that has formed on her college campus. Phoebe is a woman still grappling with survivor's guilt from her mother's death, and is effectively manipulated by cult leader John Leal - despite protests from her boyfriend Will. Phoebe's vulnerability and her relationship to her mother will be the focus of this post.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson harmonize well. These novels follow girls of color growing into women, through a series of memories that manifest as vignettes. Beyond that, both books are fantastic explorations of the bonds girls form with each other and female sexuality. I will be focusing on how the authors tackle the relationships the girls have with their mothers, and how that effects their lives going forward.