Of Men and Their Mothers

All men have mothers is a hard truth that the newlyunhyphenated Maisie Grey has learned the hard way.When she finally gets rid of the mama's-boy husbandand happily settles down with her teenage son, Tommy,she's still stuck with her irascible mother-in-law, awoman who never liked her, criticized her every stepof the way, and yet, as Tommy's grandmother, refusesto exit the family stage gracefully.

Maisie keeps it together with her own business,Factotum, Inc., where she does it all for her clients—everything from watering plants, typing up lecturenotes, and cataloguing cookbooks. In between shebalances a relationship with a man who still livesin—where else but?—his mother's house and mentorsher sole employee, Darlene, now fighting for custodyof both her breast milk and her child. Burned by theMIL-from-hell, Maisie vows that when Tommy bringssomeone home, she will be empathetic and supportive,and envelop the young woman in a loving embrace . . .the opposite of her own experience.

But along comes September Silva, with her piercings,short skirts, black nail polish, and stay-out-all-nightattitude, completely unsuitable for Maisie's teenageson! When September's mother kicks her out, Maisieis forced to take a clear-eyed look at class differences,preconceived notions of men and women, and whatit means to be a wife, a friend, and a nonjudgmentalmother. When do you let go? And how do you let goif you're sure your son is making a very big mistake?

Maisie's challenge: to build a grown-up life and to finda man grown-up enough to have disentangled himselffrom those unrelenting, all-engulfing apron strings.

"Medwed (How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life) humorously if cursorily delves into a turbulent mother-in-law and daughter-in-law dynamic. Mrs. Pollock has always disdained Maisie, who was never good enough for her son, Rex, heir to the Pollock chicken pot pie fortune. But the two women's conflicts persist even after Rex and Maisie's divorce, as they clash over the raising of Maisie's teenage son, Tommy, who has himself acquired a less-than-ideal girlfriend. Meanwhile, Maisie's trying hard to get her organizing business, Factotum Inc., off the ground in the Boston area while employing another single mom locked in a custody battle with — you guessed it — her own ex-mother-in-law. Medwed adopts a breezy tone, substituting zingy one-liners ('you can't pick battles with a battle-ax') for genuine reflection. A reader would need her own organizing service to keep track of Factotum's numerous eccentric clients, whose foibles are neither adequately developed nor sufficiently mined for comic potential. A frivolous, at times frantic, tone prevails, right down to the resolution of the novel's conflicts, which turn into happy endings faster than it takes to microwave a frozen pot pie." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

From the bestselling author of "How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life"comes this delightfully witty and moving novel of modern womanhood.

All men have mothers . . .

It's a truth that the newly unhyphenated Maisie Grey has learned the hard way. After getting rid of her mama's-boy husband, she happily settles down with her teenage son, Tommy. But she's still stuck with the hovering presence of her impossible mother-in-law,Tommy's grandmother, who refuses to exit the family stage gracefully.

Trying to keep it together with her own business and a new relationship with a man who still lives in—where else but?—his mother's house, Maisie struggles to learn from the MIL-from-hell. She vows that when Tommy brings someone home, she'll be loving, empathetic, and supportive. But then along comes completely unsuitable September Silva—with her too-short skirts, black nail polish, and stay-out-all-night attitude—who is forcing Maisie to take a flinty, clear-eyed new look at what it means to be a mother.

Mameve Medwed is also the author of Mail, Host Family, The End of an Error, and How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life (which received a 2007 Massachusetts Book Honor Award). Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in many publications including the Missouri Review, Redbook, the Boston Globe, Yankee, the Washington Post, and Newsday. Born in Maine, she and her husband have two sons and live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.