"When Nefertiti Austin, a single African-American woman, decided to adopt two black children through the foster system, she was unprepared for the fact that there is no place for black women in the 'mommy wars.' Austin set off on her path with no place to seek guidance from others who looked like her or shared her experience. She soon realized that she would not only have to navigate skepticism from the adoption community, who deal almost exclusively...

"When George Hodgman leaves Manhattan for his hometown of Paris, Missouri, he finds himself--an unlikely caretaker and near-lethal cook--in a head-on collision with his aging mother Betty, a woman of wit and will. Will George lure her into assisted living? When hell freezes over. He can't bring himself to force her from the home both treasure--the place where his father's voice lingers, the scene of shared jokes, skirmishes, and, behind the dusty...

"When a mother's unusual health condition renders her entirely dependent upon you, your sisters, caretakers, and companions, the unimaginable will become daily life. In Mothercare, Lynne Tillman writes an honest and straightforward account of doing the impossible: handling her mother as if she were a child; navigating the unnavigable medical world, and confronting her own emotions regarding a suddenly, forever changed relationship to mother and care....

Growing up in Alabama, Renkl was a devoted reader, an explorer of riverbeds and red-dirt roads, and a fiercely loved daughter. Here, in brief essays, she traces a tender and honest portrait of her complicated parents-her exuberant, creative mother; her steady, supportive father-and of the bittersweet moments that accompany a child's transition to caregiver. And here, braided into the overall narrative, Renkl offers observations on the world surrounding...

"From the bestselling author of ALL YOU CAN EVER KNOW comes a searing memoir of class, inequality, and grief-a daughter's search to understand the lives her adoptive parents led, the life she forged as an adult, and the lives she's lost. In this country, unless you attain extraordinary wealth, you will likely be unable to help your loved ones in all the ways you'd hoped. You will learn to live with the specific, hollow guilt of those who leave hardship...

"Divorce has devastating effects on children. Yet for divorcing parents who carefully consider and manage the intricacies associated with this difficult time, both parents, as seen from the child's perspective, can remain as loving and supportive as they ever were. Parenting Through Divorce concisely lays out the specific emotions and reactions parents need to anticipate from their children while going through separation, divorce, and its aftermath....