Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Dial Press for gifting me a digital ARC of this novel by Susan Rieger. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars!
In 1960, Lila Pereira is just 2 years old, with an older brother and sister, when their abusive father has her mother committed to an asylum in 1960. Lila never sees her mother again; years later, he tells the children that she died there. Decades later, she is at the peak of her career as executive editor of The Washington Post. She prioritized her career, leaving childcare to her husband, Joe. Grace, their youngest, feels abandoned and wishes for a different type of mother. Grace becomes a reporter and writes a book about her childhood and becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Zelda, Lila's mother.
This is a wonderful character study and domestic drama wrapped into one highly-readable book. It would be a good book club pick, with so much to discuss - motherhood, parenthood, marriage, ambition, and past trauma. This book explores how their upbringing affected three women of different generations. It's an exploration of how things have changed between men and women, yet how many things have remained the same. When Lila works nonstop and leaves childrearing to her husband, it's scandalous, yet it's the norm when reversed. Grace feels compelled to find out what happened to her grandmother, thinking that she can't know who she is unless she knows where she came from. But will that knowledge bring her peace or closure? Great book!
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