10 Perfect Picks to Book Club With Your Mom This Mother’s Day

Love and Ruin, by Paula McLain
After depicting the life of Hadley Richardson in her bestselling The Paris Wife, McLain sets her sights on Hemingway’s third wife, acclaimed war correspondent Martha Gellhorn. Her connection to Hemingway begins in Key West, Florida, in the late 1930s and ramps up against the invigorating, terrible backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. Two stars are on the rise—journalist and novelist, equal in skill—but one must eclipse the other. 

Eunice: The Kennedy Who Changed the World, by Eileen McNamara
Overshadowed by her brothers’ political fortune and fame, Eunice Kennedy Shriver quietly and determinedly forged her own path in a world that wasn’t looking at her. Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Eileen McNamara (The Boston Globe) aims to change that with a book that turns the spotlight on Eunice’s accomplishments and struggles, notably her desire to help children and persons with mental disabilities. As a founder of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, as well as Camp Shriver (which evolved into the Special Olympics), Eunice improved the lives of countless Americans and people all over the world.

The Female Persuasion, by Meg Wolitzer
Wolitzer’s timely new book combines elements of her previous bestsellers The Interestings (with its theme of youthful expectations versus the realities of middle age) and The Wife (a dark tale of subverted female ambition). The central relationship in Persuasion is between Greer Kadetsky, a young, shy, liberal arts–educated woman, and her mentor, Faith Frank, a 60-something pioneer of the feminist movement. Greer’s childhood sweetheart and best friend have their own compelling narratives as well, and the quartet of fully realized characters will pull you in even as the connections between them are at risk of being torn apart. 

Varina, by Charlies Frazier
As was his stunning, National Book Award–winning Cold Mountain (also a film starring Nicole Kidman and Jude Law), Varina is set during the Civil War. The novel is structured as an oral memoir by its titular heroine, Jefferson Davis’s much-younger wife, whose views of the conflict did not necessarily match those of the Confederate President. Little has been written about the First Lady of the Confederacy, and the story depicted here is full of rich and often unexpected details about the antebellum south, as well as Varina’s post–Civil War life in New York. 

Alternate Side, by Anna Quindlen
A bestselling novelist (Miller’s Valley, Object Lessons) and advice giver (A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Being Perfect), Quindlen centers her latest novel on an elite neighborhood in Manhattan. Nora and Charlie Nolan and the rest of their secluded, close-knit community, are thrown into chaos when an act of violence with racial undertones forces them to take stock of who and what they really are. This provocative new novel will provide fodder for many conversations to come.

You Think It, I’ll Say It: Stories, by Curtis Sittenfeld
In her first collection of short stories, bestselling novelist Sittenfeld’s talent for lifting the curtain on the apparent successes of others is on full display. Protagonists irritated by social media perfection and chipper volunteers (not to mention the politics of the day) are fully relatable and lovable in their snarkiness. If you enjoyed “The Prairie Wife” (first published in the New Yorker last year), in which a wife and mother considers upending the perfect social media empire of a former love, you’ll adore the nine additional tales waiting for you here.

Far from the Tree, by Robin Benway
A young adult novel with infinite crossover appeal, this National Book Award winner twines the stories of three teens connected by a birth mother, who meet for the first time after middle sister Grace gives up her own baby for adoption. Youngest child Maya is dealing with issues herself, as her adoptive family disintegrates under the force of her mother’s alcoholism, and Joaquin, the only one of the three who wasn’t adopted as a baby, finds himself detonating the good things in his life, pulling away from both his beloved girlfriend and the foster parents who want to adopt him. Benway examines love, belonging, and different definitions of family through a delicate network of connections—platonic and romantic, blood and otherwise—as the three work up the courage to seek out the mother who cut off all contact when she gave them away.

An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones
Newlyweds Roy and Celestial find their marriage tested after a cruel twist of fate sends Roy to prison in another state for a crime he didn’t commit. As the years of separation drag on, Celestial turns to her friend since childhood, Andre, for comfort, and Andre’s perspective provides new insight into her painful situation. Letters sent between husband and wife further illuminate this incredible contemporary study of marriage, loyalty, and racial injustice. A thoughtfully rendered, realistic drama that will have you desperate to discuss it the moment you reach the end.

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions, by Mario Giordano (translated by John Brownjohn)
Determined to spend her twilight years drinking wine and enjoying the beauty of Sicily, sixty-year-old Auntie Poldi, a former costume designer with a wide variety of wigs, quickly discovers that a relaxing retirement is not in the cards. Eager to solve the mystery of her handyman’s disappearance, she throws herself into the official search, despite her lack of investigative credentials. It doesn’t hurt that the lead detective, Vito Montana, is dashingly handsome. The first in a decidedly cozy series, Lions is filled with humor, heart, and stunning locales.

A Fine Romance, by Candice Bergen
With the most welcome news of a Murphy Brown revival, it’s a perfect time to read series star Bergen’s second memoir from 2016 (her first memoir, Knock Wood, came out in 1984, several years before she landed her most iconic role). The romance of the title refers to a lullaby Bergen would sing her daughter, Chloe, the product of Bergen’s marriage to the late, great filmmaker Louis Malle (Au Revoir Les Enfants; My Dinner with Andre). With good-humored, honest prose, fun name-drops, and self-deprecation, Bergen reflects on her extraordinary life, including plenty of surprises regarding her relationships. For one thing, her father, puppet master Edgar Bergen, didn’t leave her an inheritance—but he did provide for his ventriloquist doll, Charlie McCarthy. She juggled motherhood, widowhood, and TV stardom during a time of social and political upheaval (remember Dan Quayle?), and she presents as both an aspirational and relatable figure to women and moms everywhere.