The Mistress’s Daughter
By A.M. Homes, read by Jane Adams
Penguin Group
Forget those droopy old chrysanthemums — this year, pick up an audiobook for your mom that reflects her particular style of mothering. Actually, considering that literature is rife with some wacky moms, you may not want to suggest any comparisons. A.M. Homes’ new memoir details what happened when her biological mother came looking for her 30-some years after giving her up for adoption. For the novelist, going from not knowing anything about her roots to meeting both parents and learning about the circumstances of her birth was a strange journey indeed. Here are more audiobooks, fiction and non-fiction, that present a colorful bunch of mums:
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio
By Terry Ryan, read by the author
Simon & Schuster Audio
Terry Ryan tells the endearing true story of how her scrappy mom kept food on the table in the 1950s by entering jingle-, poem- and slogan-writing contests.
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
By Rebecca Wells, read by the author
HarperAudio
A delicious novel about a temperamental Southern woman and her strained relationship with her actress daughter.
The Kitchen God’s Wife
By Amy Tan, read by the author
Phoenix Audio
An elderly Chinese woman grapples with her past and how to share her haunted history with her Americanized daughter.
This Boy’s Life
By Tobias Wolff, read by Campbell Scott
HarperCollins
An affecting remembrance of Tobias Wolff’s close relationship with his divorced mother in the 1950s.
