The Mother Knot

In this compelling memoir by a writer, mother, and feminist, Jane Lazarre confronts the myth of the "good mother" with her fiercely honest and intimate portrait of early motherhood as a time of profound ambivalence and upheaval, filled with desperation as well as joy, the struggle to reclaim a sense of self, and sheer physical exhaustion. Originally published in 1976, The Mother Knot is a feminist classic, as relevant today as it was twenty years ago.

“A modern feminist classic, certain to leave its readers changed from the experience of reading seldom spoken truths.”—Maureen T. Reddy, from the Introduction to the new edition of The Mother Knot

“A powerful autobiographical account. . . . Lazarre slugs it out with her own demons and the Great American Good Mother Myth. It will frighten people who don’t like to have their myths messed with, but a lot of others will breathe easier because of it.”—Louise Berkinow, New York Times Book Review

“Beautifully written . . . . The Mother Knot says the unsayable, crackling with insights. . . . At once profoundly consoling and terrifying, her finds are universal.”—Barbara Seaman, Washington Post Book World

“A wholly original and important book. . . . I cannot imagine a woman who would not be moved, or a man who would not be enlightened.”—Adrienne Rich

“The Mother Knot deserves a permanent place in the stirring body of testimonial literature American feminism has given rise to.”—Vivian Gornick

“Many women will see themselves in Jane Lazarre’s beautifully written autobiographical account of her experience of motherhood, which is full of contradictory feelings and the conflict she felt between the portrayal of ideal motherhood and reality.”—Guardian