Top Ten

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

In honor of Mother’s Day this Sunday, we thought we’d look through the library for the best novels that capture the wonders and worries of motherhood. (In no particular order)

• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver: A missionary family with four daughters relocates to war-torn Congo in 1959. If ever there was a strong mother, it’s Orleanna Price.

• The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan: Chinese immigrant families in San Francisco after World War 2 are held together by the mothers of a mahjong club founded by Suyuan Woo.

• The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo: A family saga sweeping around Marilyn Sorenson, who is the center of gravity for her four problematic daughters.

• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: Though he loses his mother and gains a masterpiece painting, Theo will always be the son of Audrey Decker, who haunts this novel.

• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith: A classic from 1943, still relevant today, as Katie Nolan becomes a hero to her daughter by holding her tempestuous family together.

• The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai: The mothers, Babita and Seher, are a Desi version of Elena Ferrante’s characters in this exploration of complex motherhood.

• Room by Emma Donoghue: In the hell of their imprisonment, the only refuge five-year-old Jack has is his mother, “Ma,” who sustains them both with love and good stories.

• Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Céspedes: An Italian classic from 1952 that documents Valeria Cossati’s gradual discovery that she is more than a mother.

• Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry: The title character looks back on her Kentucky life, her husbands, and her restless children, and realizes that perfect is the enemy of the good.

• Sandwich by Catherine Newman: Rocky Briggses is squeezing through menopause while dealing with dark family secrets in a comedic paean to the glory of motherhood.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!