Motherhood Memoir

The moment Diane Burke, an author and mother of two grown sons, received an unexpected certified letter in the mail, she had no idea her life would be shaken to its core. Memories of a past she had buried more than forty years ago suddenly resurfaced and she wasn't prepared to deal with them. Steve Orlandi, happily married, father of two and step-father of three, was living the typical middle class American life. But since the age of eight, when he discovered he was adopted, he had led that life dealing with inner questions about his self-identity and genetic history.

When Deb Moerke and her husband decided to become foster parents, they never imagined how their lives would change. And never did they imagine their worst nightmare coming true: Their five-year-old foster daughter, Hannah, murdered at the hands of her birth mom, Karen. The Moerkes were overwhelmed with horror and grief. And just when they didn’t think they could bear any more, Deb received a phone call from Karen in prison. Facing a life sentence for Hannah’s murder, she was pregnant. And Karen had an incredible request: Would Deb take her unborn baby and love it as her own?

USA Today and New York Times best-selling author Karen Kingsbury is beloved across the nation for her moving tales of faith and redemption. In A Treasury of Miracles for Women, Kingsbury recounts uplifting true stories in which mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters are touched by God’s presence in extraordinary ways.

"Life changes fast....You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends." These were among the first words Joan Didion wrote in January 2004. Her daughter was lying unconscious in an intensive care unit, a victim of pneumonia and septic shock. Her husband, John Gregory Dunne, was dead. The night before New Year's Eve, while they were sitting down to dinner, he suffered a massive and fatal coronary. The two had lived and worked side by side for nearly 40 years.

Unflinchingly honest and darkly funny, You with the Sad Eyes unveils a side of Christina Applegate we’ve never seen, forever cementing her formidable and iconoclastic legacy. Christina Applegate came of age on sets and stages, expected to be on time, with lines learned, ready for...

Former competitive figure skater and coach Jocelyn Jane Cox is desperate to care for her toddler and her ailing mother, all while preparing to host a fabulous zebra-themed first birthday party at her house. As a new parent whose supportive mom is slipping away with dementia, she finds herself spinning in the middle of the so-called "sandwich generation."

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK Born to an American myth and raised in the wilds of Graceland, Lisa Marie Presley tells her whole story for the first time in this raw, riveting, one-of-a-kind memoir faithfully completed by her daughter, Riley...

As a mother, Cheryl E. Musick would have done anything for her daughter. But when a devastating addiction wreaks havoc on her family, she realizes that sometimes a mother’s love simply isn’t enough. In The Day the Musick Died, Cheryl shares the story of her bubbly, talented daughter Misty and the drug addiction that eventually took her life. As Cheryl writes in her introduction, she hoped one day to write a book with Misty about triumphing over addiction. Tragically, that book will never exist. Instead, Cheryl pours her love for her daughter into this memoir and lets you see Misty the ...

An unflinchingly honest and disarmingly funny memoir from an exhausted mom who broke under the pressure to do it all, faced her past, found herself—and learned to let go of perfection and just serve the dang chicken nuggets. "Libby is shifting the cultural narrative in a way that will echo for...

As a woman used to traveling and living the high life in Bangkok, Leanne Shirtliffe recognized the constant fodder for humor while pregnant with twins in Asia's sin city. But in spite of deep-fried bug cuisine and nurses who cover newborn bassinets with plastic wrap, Shirtliffe manages to keep her babies alive for a year with help from a Coca-Cola deliveryman, several waitresses, and a bra factory. Then she and her husband return home to the isolation of North American suburbia.

In this timely and necessary book, New York Times opinion writer Jessica Grose dismantles two hundred years of unrealistic parenting expectations and empowers today’s mothers to make choices that actually serve themselves, their children, and their communities Close your eyes and picture the...

The Mama Sutra spans an 18-year journey through motherhood as a spiritual practice, chronicling Cushman’s first pregnancy, her daughter's tragic stillbirth, the joyful birth of her son, the “home retreat” of early motherhood, the challenges of parenthood, the diagnosis and gifts of her son’s developmental differences, the meltdown of her nuclear family and its reconfiguration into a new and joyful form, and more. This is a powerful story of the rawness and beauty of life.

When Amanda Eyre Ward's 13-year-old son, Harry, dove headfirst into the world of sneaker culture, she found herself baffled by his obsession with flashy, expensive shoes that seemed like mere status symbols. Determined to bridge the gap with her teenage son, Ward reluctantly decided to embrace the mantra of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". As she shed her preconceptions and immersed herself in the quest to snag the latest drops, Ward discovered a community far richer than she had imagined.

After moving from a conservative Midwestern suburb to New York City to pursue an acting career, Kelly never could have imagined what life had in store for her—or how much she would fundamentally change along the way. The Luckiest is her emotional journey through the pain of unrealized dreams, navigating her husband’s Broadway spotlight, fighting for her child’s life, finding purpose after loss, and rebuilding her life and marriage.

Fetish Girl is a kinky roller coaster ride through addiction, violence, motherhood, sex, and the creation of Evil Kitty, Bella LaVey’s larger-than-life dominatrix persona. It is a singular memoir that shows that a heavily tatted BDSM sex worker can be courageous enough to come to terms with her painful truths and raise a healthy, loving child, even as she remains boldly sexual and authentic. It’s the story of a woman attracted to extremes who is willing to go to great lengths to uncover and make peace with her true nature.

Combining painfully honest memoir, cultural analysis, and reporting, BoyMom is a humorous and heartbreaking deep dive into the complexities of raising boys in our fraught political moment. “Rapist, school-shooter, incel, man-child, interrupter, mansplainer, boob-starer, birthday forgetter...

For Julie, an elementary school librarian and mother of two boys, there was no time for debilitating anxiety. Yet, the terrifying aftershocks of her first panic attack left her grappling with questions about the causes of her mental health crisis and where it would lead next.

A New Statesman and Daily Mail BOOK OF THE YEAR 'The best book I've ever read about motherhood' Jude Rogers, Observer 'I kept scribbling in the margins: 'We need to know this stuff!'' Joanna Pocock, Spectator A radical new examination of the transition into motherhood and how it affects the mind...

Ariane Beeston is a child-protection worker and newly registered psychologist when she gives birth to her first child – and very quickly begins to experience scary breaks with reality. With medication, the support of her husband, psychotherapy and, ultimately, time, Ariane rebuilds herself.

Read by the author. Your body is more spiritual than you think. How can we preach a gospel of peace, yet still find our bodies wracked by anxiety? How do we call our bodies temples of the Holy Spirit, yet regard eating, exercise, or sleep as inherently "unspiritual" activities? How is it that...