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  4. The Best Books for Mother's Day

The Best Books for Mother's Day

Southern Living May 2021 Cover
By Southern Living Editors Updated March 26, 2021
Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.
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Mother's Day
Credit: Emmaduckworth/Getty Images

If you're looking for a book that celebrates women, we have a list for you. These stories explore motherhood—its challenges, its triumphs, and its tenderness—in landscapes across the globe. Included is a memoir by Maya Angelou examining the fraught relationship she had with her mother in childhood, only to find something new in their bond years later. There's a classic read about four sisters and their mother in Civil War-era Massachusetts—that's Little Women, of course. There's a novel set in a post-apocalyptic world that teases out the terror and wonder of new motherhood in beautifully composed, delicate prose. There's a contemporary classic about four mothers and their four daughters making their way in San Francisco over the course of decades. Some of these books about motherhood are well read, and some are newer additions to our bookshelves, but all will make you want to call your mom and start a mother-daughter book club this month. They're also all great reads for Mother's Day.

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Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou
Credit: amazon.com

To Buy: $18.48, amazon.com

The moving story of Maya Angelou's relationship with her mother is shared here, in a book that traces the evolution of their bond and the opportunities for healing and reconciliation they found in the journey.

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My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
Credit: amazon.com

To Buy: $15.50, amazon.com

In this Elizabeth Strout novel, a hospital visit brings together an estranged mother-daughter pair who grapple with the trauma of the past in order to understand the present.

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Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Credit: amazon.com

To Buy: $14.40, amazon.com

The bonds between the four March sisters and their mother, Marmee, are at the heart of this classic book by Louisa May Alcott.

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Everything Beautiful In Its Time by Jenna Bush Hager

Everything Beautiful in Its Time: Seasons of Love and Loss
Credit: Amazon

To Buy: $15.99; amazon.com

Explore the charming, witty, and heartfelt stories of Barbara and George Bush, as told by granddaughter Jenna Bush Hager.

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Becoming by Michelle Obama

Becoming Michelle Obama
Credit: Amazon

To Buy: $11.89; amazon.com

This memoir by America's former First Lady delivers a personal account of the experiences that defined the woman she would become, her greatest joys and disappointments, and what her time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was really like.

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The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
Credit: amazon.com

To Buy: $15.99, amazon.com

Barbara Kingsolver's first novel is a story about unexpected motherhood and follows a young woman who becomes responsible for a 3-year-old and must reevaluate everything she thought she didn't want out of life.

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Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Credit: Amazon

To Buy: $16.99; amazon.com

This stunning novel explores both the wonderful and heartbreaking moments of motherhood and female friendship in nineteenth century China, with themes still so relatable today.

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The End We Start From by Megan Hunter

The End We Start From by Megan Hunter
Credit: amazon.com

To Buy: $15, amazon.com

This spare, moving book about new motherhood is set in a post-apocalyptic flooding world, a landscape that is filled with danger, but in which a mother and her child still find hope.

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The Matriarch by Susan Page

The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty
Credit: Amazon

To Buy: $14.79; amazon.com

Written by USA Today Washington Bureau chief Susan Page, The Matriarch recounts the public and personal details that helped shape two presidencies and define an era in American politics.

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The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Credit: amazon.com

To Buy: $10.18, amazon.com

This poignant novel by writer Amy Tan explores the complex and tender relationships between four mothers and their four daughters over four decades.

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The Sunshine Sisters by Jane Green

The Sunshine Sisters by Jane Green
Credit: amazon.com

To Buy: $10.42, amazon.com

Three daughters in crisis are called home by their ill mother only to discover new bonds between them all in Jane Green's heartfelt tale.

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The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
Credit: amazon.com

To Buy: $13.49, amazon.com

This novel explores the unbreakable bonds of family through the story of Li-yan and her daughter, Haley, who are separated by many miles but who yearn to find each other again.

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What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons

What We Lose: A Novel by Zinzi Clemmons
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To Buy: $22, amazon.com

A young woman grapples with the loss of her mother and struggles to understand the shape of unexpected motherhood in this moving novel by Zinzi Clemmons.

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Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Credit: amazon.com

To Buy: $8.79; amazon.com

This funny novel follows what happens when an architect and mother named Bernadette Fox disappears, leaving her daughter to put together the pieces of her life and try to track down the missing Bernadette.

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    1 of 14 Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou
    2 of 14 My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
    3 of 14 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
    4 of 14 Everything Beautiful In Its Time by Jenna Bush Hager
    5 of 14 Becoming by Michelle Obama
    6 of 14 The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
    7 of 14 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
    8 of 14 The End We Start From by Megan Hunter
    9 of 14 The Matriarch by Susan Page
    10 of 14 The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
    11 of 14 The Sunshine Sisters by Jane Green
    12 of 14 The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
    13 of 14 What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons
    14 of 14 Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

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