Mothers and Daughters, Rae Meadows
Mothers and Daughters, Rae Meadows
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Mothers and Daughters
A Novel

Author: Rae Meadows

Narrator: Maggi-Meg Reed

Unabridged: 7 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/29/2011

Synopsis

A rich and luminous novel about three generations of women in one family: the love they share, the dreams they refuse to surrender, and the secrets they hold

Samantha is lost in the joys of new motherhood—the softness of her eight-month-old daughter's skin, the lovely weight of her child in her arms—but in trading her artistic dreams to care for her child, Sam worries she's lost something of herself. And she is still mourning another loss: her mother, Iris, died just one year ago.

When a box of Iris's belongings arrives on Sam's doorstep, she discovers links to pieces of her family history but is puzzled by much of the information the box contains. She learns that her grandmother Violet left New York City as an eleven-year-old girl, traveling by herself to the Midwest in search of a better life. But what was Violet's real reason for leaving? And how could she have made that trip alone at such a tender age?

In confronting secrets from her family's past, Sam comes to terms with deep secrets from her own. Moving back and forth in time between the stories of Sam, Violet, and Iris, Mothers and Daughters is the spellbinding tale of three remarkable women connected across a century by the complex wonder of motherhood.

About Rae Meadows

Rae Meadows is the author of four previous novels, including I Will Send Rain. She is the recipient of the Goldenberg Prize for Fiction, the Hackney Literary Award for the novel, and the Utah Book Award, and her work has been published widely. She grew up admiring the Soviet gymnasts of the 1970s, and in her forties decided to go back to the thing she loved as a child. She now trains regularly in gymnastics. She lives with her family in Brooklyn.

About Maggi-Meg Reed

Maggi-Meg Reed is the narrator of numerous popular audiobooks including Alex Kava's One False Move, Sebastien Japrisot's A Very Long Engagement, and Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife.  Reed is a multiple Audie nominee, Earphones winner, and AudioFile Featured Narrator.   In 2008, she was named the Best Voice in Fiction & Classics by AudioFile magazine.  Her voice can also be heard on television and radio commercials across the country, and AudioFile Magazine has called her narration"fresh, intelligent, and attentive".  She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Elyse on December 16, 2022

This is the third novel I’ve read by Rae Meadows. It’s one of her earlier books. I enjoyed it equally as much as I did “I Will Send Rain” and “Winterland”. A friend once shared with me that her biggest regret after her mother died, was that she didn’t take time to get to know her Mum as a woman—not ju......more

Goodreads review by Snotchocheez on August 17, 2016

3 stars (ugh...two hours of typing down the tubes, lost to the ether; this is a hastily typed re-write) There was plenty of great writing on display here, despite my being daunted by breaking into an all-girls party (or so it seemed with a title like Mothers and Daughters, the cover art, and back cov......more

Goodreads review by Ann on January 28, 2023

I read this because I have enjoyed this author before and am interested in the Orphan Trains (a topic which wasn’t taught in my high school!). In this novel we follow three young women: Violet, a child who has arrived in New York with her mother and faces a life of terrible hardship (and whose mothe......more

Goodreads review by Edan on February 11, 2011

This book--about the lives of three generations of women--was such a smooth, lovely read. At first I worried it was a bit too easy, a bit too smooth, but as it went on there were passages that really made me pause to think, to revel in the beauty of the prose and the cleverness of its intertwining t......more

Goodreads review by Danielle on March 18, 2011

I got this book from Early Reviewers on librarything.com. I wanted to like this. I really, really, really did. I did not, however. Very few books I read get a 2 star rating. I'm relatively easy on most books and give away my 4 and 5 start ratings lavishly. I was originally going to give it a 2.5 sta......more

Quotes

“Wonderful...A perfect book-club pick…What mothers leave daughters is loud and proud in this book…It will prime conversations about your own choices, which may change your whole sense of self, or at least make you feel not so alone.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“A poignant look at three generations struggling with loss and love.” —Good Housekeeping

“Tender...perceptive...Mothers and Daughters should appeal to both of its titular groups, and may even spark the kinds of discussions and openness so uncharacteristic of many earlier parent-child relationships.” —The Capital Times

“Mothers and Daughters showcases Meadow's ability to create generations of fully formed women as they navigate life-defining moments...This is the story of how much we often don't know about the people who raise us.” —Bookslut.com

“Rae Meadows has written a richly textured novel of three generations of mothers and daughters who by finding each other, find themselves. In these beautifully interwoven stories of birth and death, love and loss, Violet, Iris, and Samantha explore the genetic threads that connect each to the others. Mothers and Daughters is a powerful novel of women's secrets and strength.” —Sandra Dallas, New York Times best-selling author of Prayers for Sale and Whiter Than Snow

“A little girl boards New York's orphan train at the turn of the 20th century and shapes generations to follow in this satisfying portrait of the many faces of motherhood.” —Kirkus

“A book you'll want to sit and read straight through...It will have you considering your own choices and those of your mother: What has she chosen not to tell you? What happened before you? What do you want to know?” —Bookpage

“An engaging story of three generations of strong women and the choices they make.” —Library Journal

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