mother’s day – The Lesbrary

Happy Mother’s Day! In the United States, Mother’s Day falls on the second Sunday in May. I’m lucky in that I was able to share a whirlwind of a Saturday with my mom recently. We shed the hustle and bustle of city life behind, shopped the outlet mall, and had fun watching Dwayne Johnson save the world alongside his gorilla pal, George, in Rampage. Let’s celebrate the wonderful, complex mothers in all of our lives with a bouquet of books! Mother’s Day has many meanings for all of us and I hope that this arbitrary date is just one of many for you and yours. I’ve assembled a mixture of families that I hope speaks to your experiences and brings you joy whenever you think of your family. This list is drawn from some of my recent favorites. What stories have warmed your heart recently? Let me know in the comments below!

In Our Mothers’ House is an amazing picture book written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco. Told from the point-of-view of the eldest daughter after they’ve all grown up and flown the nest, she remembers fondly the loving and supportive home that she and her adopted siblings experienced in their mothers’ house. Despite a frosty treatment by a homophobic neighbor, the family shares imaginative holidays (see their homemade Halloween costumes!), summer block parties, and a warmth that radiates through all they do. The mothers and children share the deepest sense of family.

All the Little Moments by G. Benson – Contemporary romance set in Australia.

Anna, an anaesthetist, steps in to raise her niece and nephew after their parents are killed in a car crash. While she loves them, author G. Benson presents Anna as a complex character who feels conflicted by her distaste for Melbourne, leaving her child-free life behind, misses her best friend/brother, and wonders if dating is at all compatible with her new life.

Bingo Love by Tee Franklin, illustrated by Jenn St.-Onge, Joy San – Graphic Novel. Historical fiction/Contemporary romance. Second chances.

This adorable and moving story follows Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray. The women first meet as teenagers at a church bingo game in 1963, but are wrenched apart when their love is discovered. Decades later after marriage to men and children, the two meet again at, you guessed it, a church bingo game. The path to second chance romance isn’t easy, but that just makes it all the more wonderful. Keep a box of tissues close.

Collide-O-Scope by Andrea Bramhall – British crime series.

I always imagine Detective Sergeant Kate Brannon as Heather Peace’s DS Sam Murray from the television series Lip Service. Gina Temple, single mom with a dead beat mistake of a father for her daughter, manages a campground in a tiny fishing village in Norfolk, England. The two meet in book one of the series. Despite corpses and high stakes, sparks fly.

Alice & Jean
Alice and Jean by Lily Hammond – Historical Fiction, 1946 New Zealand.

Alice Holden keeps the home fires burning while her husband is off fighting during World War II. Two small children keep her hands busy, but she can’t stop the fluttering of her heart every time Jean delivers milk to her door. She really does bring all women to the yard. As the women fall in love, small town complications and Alice’s emotionally battle scarred husband complicate matters. Obligation, loss, new love and new beginnings weave a rich tapestry. How many women forged lives anew like Alice and Jean tried to do?

The Fall by Robin Alexander, read by Lisa Cordileone – Contemporary romance.

I just had my six month dental check-up. Instead of plopping down and finding romance with the local dentist, and single mom, Sunny Chase, I came away with a clean bill of health for my chompers. Noel Savino has no such problems, though she plays it casual because it’s safer that way, yeah? However, casual nighttime shenanigans are anything but casual where Noel’s large Italian-American family are concerned. Narrator Lisa Cordileone delivers a vibrant performance that enhances the humor and personalities present.

Heart of the Game by Rachel Spangler. Contemporary romance.

Sports journalist Sarah Duke is living her dream: covering the St. Louis Cardinals. On opening day she meets a precocious young fan and his hard-working, newly out single mother, Molly Grettano. FYI: baseball puns abound. If you’re a cornball like me, you’ll love ‘em!

Additional books featuring mumsy:

Here’s a list of some books centering on two moms raising children together as a couple! Happy Mother’s Day to all the two-mom families out there and best of luck to those trying to become two moms. Links are to my more detailed reviews.

Fierce Family – a collection of wonderfully curated fifteen science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal short stories centering on the theme of ‘queer family.’ Many of the stories feature families with two moms, either as the heroines of the story or as the main character’s mothers, in settings as varied as postapocalyptic Australia and a space colony.

Double Pregnant: Two Lesbians Make a Family – a nonfiction but very entertaining and interesting diary of a lesbian couple in Canada as they look for a sperm donor and eventually both have babies

Dates! An Anthology of Queer Historical Fiction – short stories told mostly in graphic novel form, set in any point in history (pre-1960’s) all over the world, and all guaranteed to veer away from tragic queer tropes. One of my favorite pieces in the collection was about a pair of Black women in a rural early 20th century community who bring their families together when their husbands die, and eventually fall in love themselves.

Keile’s Chance – Black lesbian contemporary romance; one day a workaholic computer programmer is in the park when she finds a lost toddler—who turns out to have a really cute mom.

The Cage – free short fiction; lesbians looking after an orphaned werewolf baby in a city where anti-werewolf sentiment puts him in danger

Hypnotizing Chickens – when the protagonist’s partner leaves her for another woman, she goes home to Kentucky to take care of her ailing granny and eventually falls for granny’s physical therapist, who has a daughter

Chameleon Moon – dystopian sci-fi revolution adventure about the government trapping all superpowered people in a crumbling city with an underground fire. The female lead is a trans woman who’s part of a lesbian triad, who have a young son. All three moms have powers—the leading lady over sound, one of the cis moms over plants, and the other over machinery.

A Safe Girl to Love – collection of transfeminine short fiction by a trans author. One of the stories, “Winning”, is about a trans girl whose mom is also trans. Since she had two moms at one point (but the marriage broke up) I’m counting it for this list but be aware at the point the story takes place I’m pretty sure the mom is single. The daughter, by the way, is a straight trans girl.

Girl Goddess #9: In the short story “Dragons in Manhattan” – hard to mention without spoiling but the protagonist is trying to get some answers about her life, and her moms are a couple. Goodreads link, since I don’t have a review (I actually read the story ten years ago so it’s not fresh in my mind.)

Some of my fiction has moms who love other women, too! In Fearless, a newly-out-of-the-closet lesbian band mom falls for a music teacher while snowed in at All-State, and in A Harvest of Ripe Figs (followed by The Olive Conspiracy, coming July 2016), a lesbian queen solves mysteries as part of her royal duties while raising the baby princess with her partner. I hope you’ll be tempted to join their adventures!

P.S. Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café, the book, has woman couple raising a son together. Don’t be fooled by the extra little straightwashing details in the movie; the book is definitely worth checking out. It’s been eons since I’ve read it, though, so I don’t have a post about it.

Shira Glassman is a bi Jewish violinist living in Florida with a labor activist and a badly behaved calico. Her books have made the finals of the Golden Crown Awards and Bi Book Awards, but she should clean her car more often. Look for her next book in July, when Queen Shulamit & friends must save their country from economic sabotage.

The Lesbrary

Lesbian and Bi Book News and Reviews

Tag Archives: mother’s day

Julie Thompson presents A Mother’s Day Booklist Bonanza!

Guest Post by Shira Glassman: Books with Two-Mom Families!