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familial trauma/dynamics book recs
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items compelling collection of books that explore the intricate web of familial trauma and dynamics. these reveal how the past shapes our present, offering poignant insights into love, loss, and the enduring struggle for understanding.
when an ageing mother allows her thirty-something daughter to move into her apartment and she turns up with her girlfriend in tow, her mother is unprepared and unwilling to welcome her into her home
Concerning My Daughter by Kim Hye-Jin
three estranged siblings return to their family home in new york after their beloved sister's death
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
two antithesis brothers grapple with grief, love, and family in the aftermath of their fathers' death
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
a woman's mysterious death puts her husband and son on a collision course with her demonic family
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez
reimagining of the myth of persephone and demeter set on a lush private island, exploring themes of addiction and sex, family, independence, and who holds the power in a modern underworld.
Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon
isra is a young mother who finds herself in an abusive arranged marriage far from her home country, palestine. years later, deya, her daughter, is a teenager growing up in modern-day brooklyn
A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum
explores love in all its forms, including romantic, parental, and friendship love, and how to find, sustain, and survive the loss of love (interviews, essays, and experiences)
Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn
follows three women, Natsu, Makiko, and Midoriko, as they confront their own uncertainties. the three women battle with their bodies, class, and each other. from breast-enhancement surgery to explores the options available for bringing a new life int...
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
in the year following her mother's death, sophie navigates a complicated love triangle between a new flame and a past partner
Mudflowers by Aley Waterman
madden ends up with emotional discoveries about her family and herself as she navigates being truly fatherless after his death
Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T. Kira Madden
coming home is hard enough for vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren't alone. a parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back and is slowly stripping vera's childhood for spare parts
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
an ambitious woman who, after a lifetime of conning alongside her mother, wants to leave her dark past behind and marry the heir to one of the country's wealthiest families.
Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft
the unlikely friendship between two fathers, one israeli and one palestinian, who come together after the loss of their daughters
Apeirogon by Colum McCann
forced to return to her childhood home to live with her dysfunctional, bohemian parents (but without the help of her devoted, foul-mouthed sister ingrid), martha has one last chance to find out whether a life is ever too broken to fix
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
after rita is found dead in a church she used to attend, the official investigation into the incident is quickly closed. her sickly mother is the only person still determined to find the culprit.
Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro
coming-of-age story about four sisters in new england in the 19th century, follows them as they grow up, deal with their individual personalities, and transition from girlhood to womanhood.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
a subtle psychological portrait of the author’s relationship with his father during the twentieth-century battle for palestinian human rights
We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I by Raja Shehadeh
a writer who lives in illinois with his family returns to his hometown, an arab village in israel, to visit his dying father whom he has not spoken to in over a decade
Track Changes by Sayed Kashua
william is a neglected, broken boy who escapes his loveless home by earning a basketball scholarship to northwestern. there, he meets julia padavano, the oldest of four sisters who are remarkably close, and becomes part of her loving, boisterous fami...
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
when vesper's homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret, she's forced to reckon with her family's beliefs and her own crisis of faith
Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison
after the sudden collapse of her family, mim is dragged to the "wastelands" of mississippi, where she lives in a medicated milieu with her dad and new stepmom. before the dust has a chance to settle, she learns her mother is sick back in cleveland.
Mosquitoland by David Arnold
the unnamed narrator is an unmarried, middle-aged writer and literature professor who has lived in the same Italian city her entire life. In a series of meditative and melancholy episodes that span nearly a year, she records her efforts to locate her...
Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri
the story of a childhood defined by the looming absence of her incarcerated father.
Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C Ford