The Lives Our Mothers Leave Us

Book excerpt: An affirming and inspiring tribute to the complexities of mother-daughter relationships—featuring interviews with Alice Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg, Lily Tomlin, and more No matter what a woman achieves in her life—no matter how old she gets or whether she herself becomes a mother—she is always and forever a daughter. In this series of interviews, over twenty well-known women reflect on their complicated relationships with their mothers, from wonderful moments of friendship and reconciliation to difficult times marked by addiction, sickness, and death. The result is at once an affirming self-help book, an uplifting tribute to mother-daughter relationships, and a collective memoir that captures the female experience in all its forms. Featuring: Patti Davis, Anne Rice, Carolyn See, Marg Helgenberger, Melissa Gilbert, Carnie Wilson, Rosanna Arquette, Mariel Hemingway, Anna Quindlen, Angelica Huston, Mary Kay Place, Ruby Dee, Faye Wattleton, Julianne Margulies, Lily Tomlin, Diahann Carroll, Candice Bergen, Marianne Williamson, Sherry Lansing, Whoopie Goldberg, Lorna Luft, Cokie Roberts, Alice Hoffman, Kathy Smith, and Linda Bloodworth Thomason.