Motherless Mothers: How Losing a Mother Shapes the Parent You Become

When Hope Edelman, author of the New York Times bestseller Motherless Daughters, became a parent, she found herself revisiting the loss of her mother in ways she had never anticipated. Now the mother of two young girls, Edelman set out to learn how the loss of a mother to death or abandonment can affect the ways women raise their own children.

In Motherless Mothers, Edelman uses her own story as a prism to reveal the unique anxieties and desires that these women experience as they raise their children without the help of a living maternal guide. In an impeccably researched, luminously written book enriched by the voices of the mothers themselves—and filled with practical insight and advice from experienced professionals—she examines their parenting choices, their triumphs, and their fears, and offers motherless mothers the guidance and support they want and need.

“A wonderful new book...it will help you and make you cry.” Jacquelyn Mitchard, Tribune Media Services

“Smart...Edelman maps the sorrow and longing felt by mothers who are motherless themselves. “ The Oregonian

“An important book. One that will help so many people.” New York Newsday

Fascinating...Edelman illuminates the transformative power of understanding mother loss [and] offers essential wisdom. Library Journal

“Offers hope...a cathartic book.” Toledo Blade

“A heartfelt and practical work.” Los Angeles Times

Edelman illuminates the transformative power of understanding mother loss and] offers essential wisdom. -- Library Journal

When Hope Edelman, author of the New York Times bestseller Motherless Daughters, became a parent, she found herself revisiting the loss of her mother in ways she had never anticipated. Now the mother of two young girls, Edelman set out to learn how the loss of a mother to death or abandonment can affect the ways women raise their own children.

In Motherless Mothers, Edelman uses her own story as a prism to reveal the unique anxieties and desires that these women experience as they raise their children without the help of a living maternal guide. In an impeccably researched, luminously written book enriched by the voices of the mothers themselves--and filled with practical insight and advice from experienced professionals--she examines their parenting choices, their triumphs, and their fears, and offers motherless mothers the guidance and support they want and need.

--New York Newsday

Hope Edelman has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a master's degree in creative nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Motherless Daughters and its companion volume, Letters from Motherless Daughters. She lives in Topanga Canyon, California, with her husband and their two daughters.