Guest Post: Ten Most Memorable Moms in New Fiction by Andrea Lochen

Ten Most Memorable Moms in New Fiction

What
better time of year than Mother’s Day to showcase some of the most
memorable fictional mothers in some of the best new novels?  From loving, supportive mothers to complex, trailblazing mothers to selfish, vindictive mothers, this list has it all!    

1) The Perfect Son by Barbara Claypole White (Lake Union, July 2015)

Ella Fitzwilliam, the mom in THE PERFECT SON,
quit a successful career in jewelry design to be full-time parent,
mental health coach, and advocate for her son, Harry, who has a soup of
issues that include Tourette syndrome. She has devoted 17 years of her
life to his therapy, to educating teachers, to being Harry’s emotional
rock and giving him the confidence he needs to be Harry. Thanks to her,
Harry is comfortable in his own skin, even when people stare. After Ella
has a major heart attack in the opening chapter, her love for Harry
tethers her to life. But as she recovers, she discovers the hardest
parenting lesson of all: to let go.

2) Rodin’s Lover by Heather Webb (Plume, January 2015)

In RODIN’S LOVER,
Camille’s mother, Louise Claudel, is spiteful, jealous, and
disapproving of Camille’s pursuit to become a female sculptor in the
1880s. She also shows signs of mental illness. Because of this
relationship, Camille struggles with all of her female relationships the
rest of her life, and ultimately, to prove to her mother that she’s
truly talented. 

3) Imaginary Things by Andrea Lochen (Astor + Blue Editions, April 2015)

In IMAGINARY THINGS,
young single mother Anna Jennings has a unique power that most parents
only dream of—the ability to see her four-year-old son’s imagination
come to life.  But when David’s imaginary friends turn dark
and threatening, Anna must learn the rules of this bizarre phenomenon,
what his friends truly represent, and how best to protect him.

4) The Magician’s Lie by Greer Macallister (Sourcebooks, January 2015)

In THE MAGICIAN’S LIE,
Arden’s mother is remarkable both for what she does and what she
doesn’t do. As a young woman, she bears a child out of wedlock and runs
away with her music teacher, never fearing the consequences. But later
in life, her nerve fails her—just when her daughter needs her most.

5) Five Days Left by Julie Lawson Timmer (Putnam, 2014)

In FIVE DAYS LEFT,
Mara Nichols is, in some ways, a typical mother: she loves her daughter
fiercely, thinks about her constantly and goes to great lengths to
balance her high-stress legal career with her daughter’s needs. But
there are two ways in which Mara isn’t typical at all. First, she
adopted her daughter from India, making good on a lifelong promise to
rescue a baby from the same orphanage where Mara herself lived decades
ago. And second, when Mara is diagnosed with a fatal, incurable illness
that will render her unable to walk, talk or even feed herself, she has
to make the kind of parenting choice none of us wants to consider—would
my child be better off if I were no longer alive?

6) House Broken by Sonja Yoerg (Penguin/NAL, January 2015)

In HOUSE BROKEN,
Helen Riley has a habit of leaving her grown children to cope with her
vodka-fueled disasters. She has her reasons, but they’re buried deep,
and stem from secrets too painful to remember and, perhaps, too terrible
to forgive.

7) You Were Meant for Me by Yona Zeldis McDonough (Penguin/NAL, 2014)

In YOU WERE MEANT FOR ME, having a baby is the furthest thing from Miranda Berenzweig’s mind.  She’s newly single after a bad break up, and focused on her promotion at work, her friends and getting her life back on track.  Then
one frigid March night she finds a newborn infant in a NYC subway and
even after taking the baby to the police, can’t get the baby out of her
mind.  At the suggestion of the family court judge assigned to the case, Miranda begins adoption proceedings.  But
her plans—as well as her hopes and dreams—are derailed when the baby’s
biological father surfaces, wanting to claim his child.  The way she handles this unforeseen turn of events is what makes Miranda a truly memorable mother. 

8) The Far End of Happy by Kathryn Craft (Sourcebooks Landmark, May 2015)

In THE FAR END OF HAPPY,
Ronnie has hung in there as long as she can during her husband’s
decline into depression, spending issues, and alcoholism and he will not
accept her attempts to get him professional help. She is not a leaver,
but can’t bear for her sons to witness the further deterioration of the
marriage. She determines to divorce—and on the day he has promised to
move out, he instead arms himself, holes up inside a building on the
property, and stands off against police. When late in the day the police
ask Ronnie if she’ll appeal to him one last time over the bullhorn, she
must decide: with the stakes so high, will she try one last time to
save her husband’s life? Or will her need to protect her sons and her
own growing sense of self win out?

9) Your Perfect Life by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke (Washington Square Press, 2014)

In YOUR PERFECT LIFE,
long-time friends, Rachel and Casey wake up the morning after their
twenty year high school reunion to discover they’ve switched bodies.
Casey is single with no children before becoming an instant mom to
Rachel’s two teenagers and baby. Despite her lack of experience as a
parent, and her often comedic missteps with the baby in particular
(think: diaper blow outs and sudden sleep deprivation) Casey’s fresh
perspective on her new role helps her connect with each of the children
in a very different way than Rachel. And when the oldest, Audrey, is
almost date raped at her prom, it is Casey’s strength that she draws
from an experience in her own past that ultimately pulls Audrey through.
Although it is hard for Rachel to watch her best friend take care of
Audrey when she so desperately wants to, she realizes that Casey can
help her daughter in a way she can’t. And Casey discovers she might have
what it takes to be a mom to her own children someday.

10) The Life List by Lori Nelson Spielman (Bantam, 2013)

Elizabeth Bohlinger, the mother in THE LIFE LIST,
is actually deceased. But she still has a big presence in her
daughter’s life—some may say too big! With heartfelt letters, Elizabeth
guides her daughter, Brett, on a journey to complete the life list of
wishes Brett made when she was just a teen. Like many mothers, Elizabeth
has an uncanny ability to see into her daughter’s heart, exposing
buried desires Brett has long forgotten.

Andrea Lochen is a University of Michigan MFA graduate. Her first novel, The Repeat Year (Berkley, 2013), won a Hopwood Award for the Novel prior to its publication. She has served as fiction editor of The Madison Review
and taught writing at the University of Michigan. She currently teaches
at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha, where she was recently awarded
UW Colleges Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Her second
novel, Imaginary Things (Astor + Blue Editions, 2015) is recently
released and has garnered wonderful praise. With features on Barnes
& Noble.com, Huffington Post, and Brit + Co., her work is being
introduced to thousands of new readers.  Andrea currently lives in Madison with her husband and daughter and is at work on her third novel. 

Authors Links: 

Website |  Twitter 
|  Facebook  

To buy a copy of Imaginary Things:

Publisher: http://bit.ly/1HJ3VW9

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1FOikjL

B&N: http://bit.ly/1DXghMZ