Mothers and Daughters: From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes a captivating family drama

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Unlike the other three women, Amira is less urban, more open-minded and adaptable. She and her daughter, Tess, fit in well among the Aborigines at Kalangalla, a community free of alcohol that has kept up the more traditional lifestyle of the local tribe. Tess runs around barefoot with her new best friend, an Aboriginal girl called Tia. Amira is reluctant to leave for the city again after her year is up, but it's not a decision she'll make without Tess. Tess has started exchanging romantic correspondence with Callum, Morag's son, but when Janey finds the letter Tess learns just how mean Janey can be, and how different their paths now are. The latest, Mothers and Daughters I loved. The central characters are Naomi, a strong and resilient character, widowed after a long marriage to Colin. Her two adult daughters Martha, who is determined, bossy, organised to the nth degree and her father’s favourite and then there is Willow. The youngest and the most indecisive, who drifts along in life not really having a focus of what she wants to do. Each woman has their own memory of Colin who casts his shadow over their lives, even after his death. If you grew up with a dismissive mother or are hurt by past relationship experiences, Moffa says trying to understand the origin of the pain can help in not projecting it onto your mom.

Although the relationship between the three women is at the heart of the story, other relationships are bought under the spotlight including marital problems, the issues facing blended families, control and abuse and deciding how much of your real self that you let others see. Martha and Willow are both dealing with their own secrets too. Relationships that appear to be wonderful on the outside can be very dark and damaging behind closed doors and keeping up cheery appearances when the one thing you long for isn’t happening can be exhausting. But time, and how things change with it, how our relationships - all kinds - can fall fallow or fade, and how nostalgic we can be for the past is at the forefront of this novel, and how the characters interact. Societal issues and pressures form the details that create conflict or force people to face up to things, but at heart this is a story about four women hitting middle-age and not quite handling it all that well, and their daughters who are hitting puberty, wanting to exert their independence and embark on the start of their own lives - something that is often in conflict with their parents' wishes, which stem largely from nostalgia. So the story revolves around the different positions they find themselves in - Martha, happily married and in control of her life, but unable to fall pregnant, and Willow who is really easy going and drifts through life, much to the horror of her big sister! Martha is a very strong character who likes to take control of every aspect, and she thinks it would be best for her mum to sell up and move nearer them. Not so easy for Naomi who has happy memories in her home, along with the fact that she's now making a life for herself, and it's fascinating to see how that relationship with her daughters plays out.A captivating story about a mother’s relationship with her two daughters, to protect them she has kept secrets and her daughters now understanding their mother is a free and independent woman, she has every right to live where she chooses, start a new relationship and fall in love.

When Kate gets a call at work that her daughter Amelia has been suspended for cheating, she panics and leaves work, only to arrive at the school to find a tragedy. Amelia has jumped to her death, according to officials. While it’s hard for Kate to believe this, she is overcome by guilt and grief over the loss. But when Kate receives an anonymous text insisting Amelia didn’t jump, she sets out to find the truth to vindicate her daughter’s memory.

Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple

A lot of difficult issues are handled in a very sensitive way throughout this novel. Introducing new members into an established family can sometimes cause fractions and difficulties I thought this was brilliantly explored in the book. Family, sibling rivalry, fertility, infidelity, domestic violence, narcissism and finding happiness were a few of the subjects which were intertwined throughout the story.