9 mother-daughter relationships in books
This Mother's Day, we welcome Niamh Mulvey, author of The Amendments, to share her top recommendations for books exploring mother-daughter relationships.
"Mothers don't get great press from their daughters; this is my reluctant but inescapable appraisal after preparing this list. But perhaps to judge mother-daughterhood by the books that make it to the shelves is akin to judging the health of a community by the occupants of its accident-emergency department, or the local psychiatric ward. In any case, it makes for some excellent writing. Turbulent, twisted, disturbing and always riven with a great and terrible love, all of the below explore and eviscerate the emotionally fraught territory that, for reasons known only to the gods and psychiatrists, seem to constitute mother-daughter relationships." Niamh Mulvey
The Fate of Mary-Rose by Caroline Blackwood
A community loses its mind in the wake of the murder of a young girl. An unforgettably chilly mother-daughter dyad is at the heart of this story, which is told to us from the increasingly terrified viewpoint of a useless male cad. Unsentimental, hilarious, gothic, brilliant.
Earth to Moon: A Memoir by Moon Unit Zappa
A slice of pure California. The daughter of Frank and Gail Zappa tells her story in gorgeously chosen vignettes, evoking a childhood at the heart of the counterculture. While the famous father may draw readers to the book, it is the author's long-suffering, elegant and breathtakingly cruel mother Gail that one is left thinking about.
Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey
A short windswept novel in which a mother tries desperately to pretend all is well on her daughter's wedding day. To a young woman, the mother is appalling. As an ageing dowager myself now, I may have some sympathy.
How to Love Your Daughter by Hila Blum
One of the gentler and more tender depictions on this list, this Israeli novel is nevertheless tense, absorbing and written with steely clarity. A devoted mother watches her daughter grow up; her love causes her to overstep at a critical moment, causing a rupture that may never be repaired.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Again, age changes all. Poor Mrs Bennet. Played for laughs for centuries now, but what was she to do? Five daughters. Five!
Are You Somebody? by Nuala O’Faolain
One of the best and most important Irish memoirs of the twentieth century, Nuala O’Faoláin describes growing up the daughter of a socialite father in 1950s Dublin; to this reader, it is the mother who haunts the mind, a haunting that is an echo of the influence she had on her daughter's life. Beautiful, tragic and unforgettable.
The Pure Gold Baby by Margaret Drabble
A gorgeous novel about a deeply loving mother and her daughter, this novel also tells the story of madness, mental health and institutionalisation in Britain over many decades. It captures beautifully the joy of being a London mother: the intensely wrought friendships – often forged in the absence of extended family – and the tenderness felt towards the children of one's friends.
Hidden Lives: A Family Memoir by Margaret Forster
An exploration into family history that reveals the changing lives of working-class British women over generations. A classic.
Carrie by Stephen King
Even if you think you know the story from the film and its countless pop culture iterations, it's worth going back to the text itself. Crazed, bloody, weird and with a mad, mad mother at its heart, there’s something in the zealousness with which the reader is prompted to hate Carrie's mother that is fascinating to observe.
About The Amendments by Niamh Mulvey
Tender and profoundly moving, The Amendments is at once the novel of a nation over four decades, a love story, and an intricate family drama that will break your heart.
Nell and her partner Adrienne are about to have a baby. For Adrienne, parenthood is the start of a new life. For Nell, it's the reason the two of them are sitting in a therapist's office. Because she can't go into this without facing the painful truth: that she has been a mother before.
For Dolores, Nell's mother, the news also brings a reckoning: with the way her daughter's life unfolded fifteen years ago, with its inextricable ties to her own past, and with the tragedy that neither of them have spoken about since.
Gift cards
Give a gift beyond words
Give recipients of all ages the excitement of choosing a book as well as the joy of reading it.
Gift cards
Buy and spend in bookshops everywhere
Visit one of the hundreds of bookshops in the UK & Ireland that accept National Book Tokens.
Discover
Discover our book recommendations
We've got recommendations for all readers, from authors, booksellers, and our book-loving team.
