Review: "Mothers and Daughters" by Rae Meadows

Description from the publisher's website:

"Samantha is lost in the joys of new motherhood—the softness of her eight-month-old daughter's skin, the lovely weight of her child in her arms—but in trading her artistic dreams to care for her child, Sam worries she's lost something of herself. And she is still mourning another loss: her mother, Iris, died just one year ago.

When a box of Iris's belongings arrives on Sam's doorstep, she discovers links to pieces of her family history but is puzzled by much of the information the box contains. She learns that her grandmother Violet left New York City as an eleven-year-old girl, traveling by herself to the Midwest in search of a better life. But what was Violet's real reason for leaving? And how could she have made that trip alone at such a tender age?

In confronting secrets from her family's past, Sam comes to terms with deep secrets from her own. Moving back and forth in time between the stories of Sam, Violet, and Iris, Mothers and Daughters is the spellbinding tale of three remarkable women connected across a century by the complex wonder of motherhood."

I remember receiving this one in the mail as a "surprise" review copy. It's not often that I receive a surprise book and am quite this excited to receive it. I had seen Mothers and Daughters appearing in other blogger's mailboxes and was hoping that I would receive one as well. The cover is vibrantly beautiful and I really enjoy books focused on motherhood and how our world changes as we enlarge it to include our offspring.

I really enjoyed Mothers and Daughters. There was something magical about the way in which Samantha, a new mother, learns about her family history despite the fact that her mother has passed. I thought that was really well done. Samantha was mourning the loss of her mother and being able to discover more about her family history gave her a new connection to the mother that she had lost and was so desperately missing.

This is a fantastic choice for those who enjoy women's fiction with a little mystery and history thrown in for good measure. I enjoyed the way that the narratives, those from both the past and the present, wove together and were formed into a complete story. The ending was great and left a little room for my imagination to continue on with the story, a feature that I enjoy. My thanks to Henry Holt and Co. for sending me this review copy.