Deseret News review

This is a tender collection of essays about motherhood and all its challenges and joys written from the perspective of 29 women who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While their faith is similar, each of their stories is unique.

There’s one, written by a mother of four, about being prompted to adopt. Another mother writes about losing a baby at nearly full-term. Other stories are about the stresses of motherhood but also about the joy of sweet moments. [Link to full review]

from Amira’s Blog, The Golden Road to Samaqand

My oft-redirected copy of The Mother in Me arrived this afternoon, and, not being being an angel mother, I plopped down and read it while my older boys ran wild outside and the baby played, nursed, and napped in my arms. I bet my afternoon was better than yours.

Because The Mother in Me is a very good book. . . .

Praise for The Mother In Me

Jane Clayson Johnson, Emmy-winning journalist and author:

The Mother in Me offers a tender glimpse into the lives of mothers and children–from the first moments of pregnancy to a child’s first steps at school. It is an honest and beautiful celebration of motherhood.

Merrilee Boyack, author and community activist:

I felt the joy, the heartache, the thrills and pains of young motherhood once again. This book is a treasury of emotion and experience. I give it five tissues and a box of chocolates!  

Margaret Blair Young, novelist and filmmaker:

I love this collection of poetry and essays—not just because it’s well-written, tender, and honest, but because each work is FAMILIAR. I could see myself over and over as I read. How refreshing to actually feel at home in a book about motherhood! 

The attention paid to stillbirth, handicap, infertility, and adoption makes this a remarkably complete look at the faces of motherhood we don’t always notice, but which beg to be seen. The reminders to “keep watch” as our children move quickly through their years are poignant. I think every mother will spend an extra few minutes with their babies after reading these words.

Like a child tugging at its mother’s skirt, these essays and poems offer voices which insist on being heard—not through loud noises or mischievous, meandering devices, but through the speakers’ power to remind us of our own childhoods, our own varied motherhoods, our own marriages, our own hopes, our own sorrows. Some are letters; some read like journal entries; some play with metaphors; some simply “talk story.” All paint personal yet deeply familiar pictures of motherhood.

I came away from this collection feeling validated and inspired. This is a book which those of us who approach Mother’s Day with anxiety can actually read, and cry in recognition rather than regret. What a gift! For that, I thank Kathryn Lynard Soper and her wonderful group of writers.