Hope Edelman

Hope Edelman’s bestselling MOTHERLESS DAUGHTERS drew on her own experience of losing her mother at seventeen. Now a mother herself, in MOTHERLESS MOTHERS she considers how her mother’s absence has shaped her seven years of parenting. Through interviews, anecdotes and psychological research, Edelman discusses the challenge of mothering in the shadow of loss, which often triggers a resurgence of childhood grief and confusion. But this is less a book on mourning than a supportive guide for mothers who may feel overwhelmed and alone, bereft of their own mother’s presence, advice and support. The book covers general child-rearing topics for each age group but with a focus specific to the readership such as the void of the absent grandmother; the urge to overcompensate; and the perpetual impulse to protect one’s family from the spectre of loss. Edelman’s voice, suffused with fierce maternal love, joins candid recollections from motherless mothers of all ages and backgrounds. She presents emotionally charged concepts in clear, memorable terms to encourage frank, cathartic discussion. THE NEW YORK TIMES described her previous book as a ‘A moving and valuable treatment of a neglected subject, jolting us into awareness of the profound problems mother loss leaves in its wake.’

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