Good afternoon dear Cornerfold readers! I’m Lili from Utopia State of Mind and I’m back again for another guest post. I’m not sure if you remember me, but I have been here before. (Thank you again for having me!) Today I’m talking about my favorite mother/daughter books. The whole topic of mothers and daughters is so special to me because of my two mothers – birth and adopted. I guess that has resulted in my fascination with literary mother and daughter pairs.
For me to like a pair, they don’t have to be perfect like the ones who are best friends, like Rory and Lorelai from ‘Gilmore Girls’, but they’re totally a favorite of mine. They can make mistakes, have awful fights, and even stop speaking to each other. They just have to be real to me. And conflict and arguments and differing opinions are that, so are mistakes you make and cannot take back.
Without further ado, I want to bring to you my top three pairs, featuring one that hasn’t come out yet, a favorite of mine, and a new read.
The Valley of Amazement has been my go to recommendation for turbulent mother/daughter relationships. It is given that place for a few different reasons. This is written by Amy Tan, who is pretty great for these types of relationships. What I love about them is that they make mistakes, they stop speaking, and they work it out. The relationship you have with your mother is turbulent, there are times they do things you cannot understand and make decisions you cannot forgive them for. But in these moments, they’re the most real. They are their own person and even though we sometimes don’t want to see them as fallible or flawed, they are. Tan never shies away from these moments and in The Valley of Amazement we see many different types of mother/daughter relationships – and even almost a mirrored relationship. (See my review on my blog.)
The Tiger’s Daughter comes out later this fall and is one of my most anticipated releases. This book has demons, magic, and legendary kick ass women. There are so many of them that is was hard to pick my favorite side character – each of them has a lifelikeness and a personality. But there are two amazing mother/daughter relationships which take center stage. These two pairings are tender between strong women, and who embrace the difficulties of parenthood. There were so many precious moments between them and their daughters, and between the mothers themselves. It is truly an amazing book in that regard and absolutely worth the read.
Now this is a sort of sneaky one, The Scavenger’s Daughters, actually focuses a lot more on the father in this book – side note, why are there less father/daughter relationships – but this one centers around family. At the heart of this book is a story about a couple who take orphaned girls in, even though they don’t have a lot to give besides love. These orphans find a home and a place to live there and the novel revolves around characters. Not only does each daughter have a distinct personality, but the parents are also highly colorful characters. There are beautiful and precious interactions between them all and the ending brought tears to my eyes. (See my review on my blog.)
So that wraps up my most recent and mention-worthy mother/daughter relationships. But I seriously love reading about them. I think parenthood and mothers will always be a relationship that I will be intrigued by because of my past. I want to turn it over to you though. What is your favorite book with mothers and daughters? I would love some recommendations!!
Hello reader. My name is Lili and I am the book blogger behind Utopia State of Mind. I am a self-described book worm who loves finding new friends in books and building gigantic forts out of them (the books, not the friends). I first began blogging over a year ago because I needed an outlet to creatively talk about books, when I wasn't busy writing my Master's in Literature (specifically cyborgs). Since then, it has steadily grown into something more: a community and space for me to share the books I love and feel deserve more attention. I focus primarily on science fiction, fantasy, and diverse reads. I always love to gush about books and trade recommendations. I would love to see you around - so make sure to follow me on Twitter (where I am the most personal) on Instagram (where I am the most creative) friend me on Goodreads (to see my thoughts before the review) and like my Facebook to be notified of posts.
