A Mystery That Can Finally Be Told! After her father, Dr. George Hodel, a prominent Hollywood physician was acquitted in a sensational incest trial, 16-year-old Tamar gave birth to a blue-eyed, white skinned baby girl. She insisted that the father was "Negro." Outraged by the audacity of their daughter and the stigma attached to a mixed-race child within their midst, her mother quickly arranged to have the baby permanently given away to Jimmie Lee, a black maid in a Nevada casino. Overwhelmed by the problems of raising a white-skinned baby in her black community, Jimmie spent the next twenty years struggling to secretly raise Fauna. Together they endured extreme poverty, alcoholism, starvation, sexual abuse, pregnancy and death, hopelessly bound and knotted together by relentless bigotry. Fauna survived this difficult world with a vow to find the one person who knew her beginnings, her biological mother, Tamar, the woman of her dreams. Fauna sets out to discover the truth, only to uncover her family's notorious secret: her extraordinary grandfather and the murder of the Black Dahlia. ."haunting, poignant and heart-wrenching." The stuff of which movies are made." --Cliff Rothman, Contributor, Vanity Fair ..".laughter, sass, spirit and tears leaves the readers awash in hope." --Alfre Woodard, Actor

'I'm getting a life's lesson about grace from my mother in the ICU. We never stop learning from our mothers, do we?'Unforgettable is a son's spirited, affecting, and inspiring tribute to his remarkable mother and the love between parent and child. When NPR's Scott Simon began tweeting from his mother's hospital room in July 2013, he didn't know that his missives would soon spread well beyond his 1.2 million Twitter followers. Squeezing the magnitude of his final days with her into 140-character updates, Simon's evocative and moving meditations spread virally. Over the course of a few days, Simon chronicled his mother's death and reminisced about her life, revealing her humour and strength, and celebrating familial love.Unforgettable expands on those famous tweets to create a memoir that is rich, deeply affecting, heart-wrenching, and exhilarating. His mother was a glamorous woman of the Mad Men-era; she worked in nightclubs, modelled, dated mobsters and movie stars, and was a brave single parent to young Scott Simon. Spending their last days together in a hospital ICU, mother and son reflect on their lifetime's worth of memories, recounting stories laced with humour and exemplifying resilience. Unforgettable is not only one man's rich and moving tribute to his mother's colourful life and graceful death, it is also a powerful portrayal of the universal bond between mother and child.

Joan Rivers was known all over the world-from the Palace Theater to Buckingham Palace, from the bright lights of Las Vegas to the footlights of Broadway, from the days of talkies to hosting talk shows. But there was only one person who knew Joan intimately, one person who the authorities would call when she got a little out of hand. Her daughter and best friend, Melissa. Joan and Melissa Rivers had one of the most celebrated mother-daughter relationships of all time. If you think Joan said some outrageous things to her audiences as a comedian, you won't believe what she said and did in private. Her love for her daughter knew no bounds-or boundaries, apparently. ('Melissa, I acknowledge that you have boundaries. I just choose to not respect them.') In The Book of Joan- Tales of Mirth, Mischief and Manipulation, Melissa shares stories (like when she was nine months old and her parents delivered her to Johnny Carson as a birthday gift), bon mots ('Missy, is there anything better than seeing a really good-looking couple pushing a baby that looks like a Sasquatch who got caught in a house fire?'), and life lessons from growing up in the Rosenberg-Rivers household ('I can do tips and discounts and figure out the number of gay men in an audience to make it a good show.That's all the math you'll ever need.'). These were just the tip of the iceberg when it came to life in the family that Melissa describes as more Addams than Cleaver.And at the center of it all was a tiny blond force of nature. The Book of Joan is full offunny, poignant and irreverent observations, thoughts, and tales about the woman who raised Melissa and is the reason she considers Valium one of the four basic food groups.

IF YOU THOUGHT TINSELTOWN WAS TOUGH . . . Tori Spelling might have grown up with everything a girl could wish for, but these days she’s just another suburban working mom . . . whose toddler regularly recognizes her in the pages of US Weekly . Welcome to Mommywood , where the stars are two feet tall and your neighbors know who you are before you move in. Like most parents, Tori wants her children to have the one thing she didn’t have as a kid—a normal family. On their hit Oxygen reality show, Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood , the starlet and her husband Dean McDermott regularly wrestle dirty diapers, host the neighborhood block party, and tackle temper tantrums on the red carpet. But when the cameras aren’t rolling, Tori’s still having awkward run-ins with a former 90210 costar at a laser tag birthday party, scooping rogue poo out of the kiddie pool on a resort vacation, and racing to win back her pre-baby body before the media starts calling her fat. For all her suburban fantasies, Tori Spelling is no June Cleaver. With the same down-to-earth wit that made her entertaining memoir sTORI telling a #1 New York Times bestseller, Tori tells the hilarious and humbling stories of life as a mom in the limelight, from learning to be the kind of parent her own mother never was to revealing what it’s like to raise a family while everyone is watching. Mommywood is an irresistible snapshot of celebrity parenthood that you won’t get from the paparazzi.

Covering topics as diverse as the hysteria of competitive parenting (Whose toddler can recite the planets in order from the sun?), the relentless pursuits of the Bad Mother police, balancing the work-family dynamic, and the bane of every mother's existence (homework, that is), Bad Mother illuminates the anxieties that riddle motherhood today, while providing women with the encouragement they need to give themselves a break.

A hilarious and candid essay collection about living a normal life in Hollywood, where life is anything but normal, from mom, actress, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Tori Spelling. With her signature wit and unique Hollywood insight, Tori Spelling explores the adventures—and misadventures—of raising a family in Tinseltown. From balancing parenthood with tabloid pressures and from becoming a mini mogul to her evolving relationship with her mom, Tori takes us behind the glitz and glamor of being a modern-day celebrity. Featuring her whip-smart voice that fans know and love, she effortlessly illustrates that when you’re Tori Spelling, every day is uncharted territory.

From the international bestselling author of Black, White, and Jewish comes a "wonderfully insightful" ( Associated Press ) book that's destined to become a motherhood classic. Now in trade. Like many women her age, thirty-four-year-old Rebecca Walker was brought up to be skeptical of motherhood. As an adult she longed for a baby but feared losing her independence. In this very smart memoir, Walker explores some of the larger sociological trends of her generation while delivering her own story about the emotional and intellectual transformation that led her to motherhood.

"There's a little Jewish mother in every mother," as comedienne Judy Gold reveals in her achingly hilarious and poignant book For a Jewish girl who remembers the first book ever read to her as a child was the pop-up version of The Diary of Anne Frank, learning how to be a Jewish mother who wasnt a carbon copy of HER Jewish mother wasnt easy. Here, Emmy Awardwinning comedienne Judy Gold asks, "Are there any Jewish mothers out there like me, or are they all, G-d forbid, like my mother" In 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, she incorporates her own adventures in Jewish motherdom and her memories of growing up Jewish in suburban New Jersey -- communicating with her mother by putting Ann Landers articles on the fridge ("Dear Ann, My mother wont let me walk alone to school and Im 16! Please help." "Dear Ann, The crossing guard drinks. Please help.") -- with the voices of the fifty other Jewish mothers, she and her co-author, Kathleen Moira Ryan, interviewed. They asked homemakers, lawyers, Holocaust survivors twenty-five questions, including: --Who's your favorite Jewish mother (Judy's is Barbra Streisand.)? --How many times a day do you talk to your children or mother (for Judy, it's anywhere from one to the high double digits)? --Are Jewish mothers really more paranoid (or, "Why do I have to write an entire itinerary with names, addresses, and phone numbers every time I leave the house")? And so on. The culmination of these extraordinary stories confirms that there is ultimately something strong, courageous, and loving in every Jewish mother -- a hopeful -- and very funny -- message to mothers and their children everywhere.

An honest, heartbreaking and brutally funny memoir about losing a mother you never really had - and a comfort to anyone who loves someone who drives them crazy.[Bokinfo]

Part memoir, part humor, and part myth, this entertaining and inspirational volume explores the moment the author realized his high-school basketball career would not last forever and examines why women continue to be perplexed by men's fascination with sports.

A comic and heartwarming memoir about childhood's second act from Real Simple journalist Catherine Newman. Much is written about a child's infancy and toddler years, which is good since children will never remember it themselves. It is ages 4-14 that make up the second act, as Catherine Newman puts it in this delightfully candid, outlandishly funny new memoir about the years that "your children will remember as childhood." Following Newman's son and daughter as they blossom from preschoolers into teenagers, CATASTROPHIC HAPPINESS is about the bittersweet joy of raising children--and the ever-evolving landscape of issues parents traverse. In a laugh out-loud, heart-wrenching, relatable voice, Newman narrates events as momentous as grief and as quietly moving as the moonlit face of a sleeping child. From tantrums and friendship to fear and even sex, Newman's fresh take will appeal to any parent riding this same roller coaster of laughter and heartbreak.

Mia has a knack for putting into words the dilemmas, delights and dramas of women everywhere. With intrepid curisoity and a delicious sense of humour, Mia navigates her way throught the topics - great and small - of modern life.

Stories of Biblical Mothers offers a new look at an often unnoticed group of women in the Hebrew Bible: the biblical mothers. The author's insightful analysis gives evidence that women of the Bible are able to obtain domestic and public influence through their status as mothers. This work reassesses the position of the biblical woman, and acknowledges that while marginalized, nevertheless as a mother she is both honored and powerful. Author Leila Leah Bronner adds to the ongoing conversation about the role and place of women in the Bible, and inspires further reflection on the biblical mother.

In 1984, Phillip Lopate sat down with his mother, Frances, to listen to her life story. A strong, resilient, indomitable woman who lived through the major events of the twentieth century, she was orphaned in childhood, ran away and married young, and then reinvented herself as a mother, war factory worker, candy store owner, community organizer, clerk, actress, and singer. But paired with exciting anecdotes are the criticisms of the husband who couldn't satisfy her, the details of numerous affairs and sexual encounters, and, though she succeeded at many of her roles, accounts of how she always felt mistreated, taken advantage of. After the interviews, at a loss for what to do with the tapes, Lopate put them away. But thirty years later, after his mother had passed away, Lopate found himself drawn back to the recordings of this conversation. Thus begins a three-way conversation between a mother, his younger self, and the person he is today. Trying to break open the family myths, rationalizations, and self-deceptions, A Mother's Tale is about family members who love each other but who can't seem to overcome their mutual mistrust. Though Phillip is sympathizing to a point, he cannot join her in her operatic displays of self-pity and how she blames his father for everything that went wrong. His detached, ironic character has been formed partly in response to her melodramatic one. The climax is an argument in which he tries to persuade her--using logic, of all things--that he really does love her, but is only partially successful, of course. A Mother's Tale is about something primal and universal: the relationship between a mother and her child, the parent disappointed with the payback, the child, now fully grown, judgmental. The humor is in the details.

"Whenever women are honest about their struggles, they give other women a gift. Mia delivers." Elizabeth GilbertThis book is for every woman who's been told success is as simple as Lean In, Say Yes, Live Your Best Life, Beat Your Fear, Follow Your Dream... and then feel #soblessed.It's for guilty friends, bad mums, crap wives, imperfect feminists, rebellious daughters and any girl with a big mouth and at least one foot in it. It's for any woman who's ever asked: 'Am I the only one who isn't quite coping?'Here is Mia Freedman's low road to the top - a fearless, hilarious, inspiring and surprising collection of modern misadventures to read, relate to and rejoice in, then share with all the women in your life.MORE PRAISE FOR MIA FREEDMAN"Funny, raw, fierce and - at heart - profoundly generous." Annabel Crabb"There are few writers in Australia who care as much about what makes women tick as Mia Freedman and who reveal so much of themselves." Leigh Sales"Mia Freedman is one of the most inspirational, informative and accessible voices among contemporary Australian writers ... She is dedicated to improving the lives of other women. Hers is an important unique voice in our national conversation." Cate McGregor

The death of Barbara Frum stunned and sorrowed Canadians. After a heroic - and very private - 18-year battle with leukemia, she left behind a country that loved, and respected her. As an interviewer for CBC Radio's As It Happens and CBC TV's The Journal, she was able to go one-on-one with anyone. Now her daughter, Linda, shows us the woman behind the microphone. This is the story of a family and how they not only coped with Barbara's fatal disease, but made the best of it, living every day to its fullest. The lessons learned from Barbara Frum will inspire and move all those who have missed her so much.

Kim Chernin is renowned for her prolific writing -- including fiction and memoir -- on issues affecting women's lives, ranging from eating disorders and sex to relationships. In The Woman Who Gave Birth to Her Mother, she offers readers a culmination of that work -- a fully integrated vision that will help women resolve their lifelong struggles with their mothers and become fully independent, capable people. Exploring six compelling case histories of women who have resolved these issues in unique and creative ways, Chernin offers her own insights based on years of working with women in therapy, and on her own problematic relationship with her daughter. A tour de force of analysis, compassion, and erudition, this exciting, important work is further evidence that Chernin is "blessed with the eloquence of a poet and the gifts of a born therapist" (San Francisco Chronicle).

This diary of acclaimed psychologist and radical feminist icon Phyllis Chesler was a pioneering work when it was first published in 1979. A look into the second wave of feminism and the era's changing attitudes toward motherhood and pregnancy, With Child--now with an updated preface from her son--remains relevant for mothers today.