As  Mother’s Day rolls back around, here are 4 books to share with the incredible women in your life. These works of fiction and memoir explore the relationship between mothers and daughters, from loss and abandonment to fierce love and feminism, depicting motherhood in all its complexity, ambivalence, struggle, and strength.

Attachements Féroces (Fierce Attachments)
a memoir by Vivian Gornick, trans. from the English by Laetitia Devaux, Rivages Poche

Some books have the same effect on you that strong alcohol does: they shake you to the core, electrify you, and leave you with a deeper understanding of yourself–more aware of your connection to the world. This is exactly the effect of Fierce Attachments.
Fierce attachments tells us about how Gornick became the woman she is now–how she developed into a feminist and a writer thanks to the unintentional combined influence of her mother and Nettie, her mother’s neighbor and closest friend. Read more.

Fugitive parce reine
a novel by Violaine Huisman, Folio Gallimard

Alternating different viewpoints successively–of the child she used to be, of an omniscient narrative voice — to come as close as possible to her mother’s emotions and thoughts before returning to her status as a young orphan, Violaine creates a remarkable and spellbinding portrait of a woman who suffered everything, all while expecting nothing else than perfection from her daughters. Fugitive parce que reine is the powerful story of a woman struggling to keep her balance as a wife, a mother, and a human being full of desire. A magnificent yet harrowing evocation of a free-spirited woman. Read more

Souvenirs de la marée basse,
a novel by Chantal Thomas, Points Seuil

Multiple award-winning author Chantal Thomas is mostly known for her bestselling historical novels (The Exchange of Princesses Other Press, Farewell, My Queen: A Novel, Atria Books).
Souvenirs de la marée basse interwines the realm of memory with that one of the sea as she delves into her relationship with her mother. Read more.

Waiting for Bojangles (En attendant Bojangles)
a novel by Olivier Bourdeaut, trans. from the French by Regan Kramer, Simon & Schuster

If you have a fondness for passionate love, then the story of Georges and Madame, his Quixotic wife, as seen through the eyes of their unique son is for you!. Every day, Georges names his wife differently, the two of them love nothing more than inventing surrealistic stories, drinking cocktails all day long, and throwing extravagant parties every night. Nina Simone’s Mister Bojangles – Madame’s favorite song – plays continually in their home, and their son’s companion is a bird – a Damsel of Numidia called Miss Superfluous.
Waiting for Bojangle is a quite enchanting and elegantly written debut novel that you’ll devour in one sitting. The narrative abounds with poetic images that call to mind Boris Vian’s Mood Indigo (L’Ecume des jours), and reaches the similar soft spot between comedy and tragedy. A lovely and moving feel-good novel. Read more.