Watermark Books and Cafe

"Mothers & Daughters" by Rae Meadow (Henry Holt, ISBN 9780805093834, $25.00) 

Rae Meadow’s novel, “Mothers and Daughters” is told in the voices of three generations of women:  Violet, Iris and Samantha.   

Violet, now deceased was displaced to the Midwest from NYC when her mother put her on an Orphan Train in 1900.  

Violet’s daughter Iris is in her final days living the life of her choosing in sunny Florida after her two children, a boy and a girl, Sam, grew up and her husband divorced her to live with another younger woman. Samantha, Violet’s daughter, is a new mother, juggling this new role with that of her former life as a ceramicist and confused by the changing dynamics of her marriage because of a new baby in the house.   

When Samantha is called to Violet’s to assist in caring for her in her final days, the bond between mother and daughter is tentative, even as each woman absorbs the stoicism and strength of the other.   Meadows introduces an archival box mementos to create the connection needed to bring the mysteries of Violet’s life to the foreground of Samantha’s. This works to weave a thread through the three narratives to wonderful effect. This slim volume moved me to tears even though it does not succumb to sentimentality. Rather, Rae Meadows triumphs in distilling three unique lives to their universal essence and expresses the deep need we all have for the loving bonds of a mother, no matter how imperfect and fragile these ties may be.   

Review by Sarah Bagby