Ace Pokies Free Bonus Codes: If you enjoy playing with larger stakes, you should look to see whether theres a VIP program for high-rollers, so you arent getting the same program as those who don't bet nearly as much as you.
Wonderful (and unexpected) news for MOTHER MOTHER: The novel is a Finalist in the 2021 National Indie Excellence Award for General Fiction. I grappled with this story for years, finally finishing during my 2-year MFA program. I’m eternally grateful to my MFA mentors, Steve Heller, Sarah Van Arsdale and Victoria Patterson, whose observations, suggestions and criticism made the book better.
Thank you, too, to everyone who has read MOTHER MOTHER or plans to read it. To know the story has found an audience means the world to me.
As a writer, I can’t ask for anything more than to have my intention understood in writing a book. Except maybe that a reader also loved the world of the novel and was moved by it. That’s why I’m honored and overjoyed by this review in Literary Mama by Autumn Purdy:
In the novel, O’Dwyer does not shy away from harsh realities, traumatic circumstances, nor graphic telling to give readers the most authentic and compelling adoption tale…. Though there are many unpleasant circumstances woven into the book, O’Dwyer writes a story that reads like a love letter for her children and their families of origin, and a lamentation for their birth country.
The review continues with an assessment of the relationship of adoptive parents Julie and Mark; Juan, the son they are adopting; and Rosalba, Juan’s mother in Guatemala.
Their family story takes off from here and, as readers are becoming acquainted with Juan, the novel flows seamlessly between the present day to the past. The author moves the tale backward seventeen years and introduces Juan’s birth mother, Rosalba, whose existence and sacrifice are imperative to the story. O’Dwyer writes the birth mother’s history in the first person which gives Rosalba, an indigenous Ixil Mayan woman, a clear and unforgettable voice as she shares her harrowing plight, from her origin story to the birth of Juan, and the incredible suffering she endured along the way….
O’Dwyer has a knack for character development and scene building, and a gift for telling multilayered stories without losing her audience. Not only does the author write with authoritative detail about the adoptive mother-son connection, but her writing offers, in equal measures, an affinity for Juan / Jack’s legacy and his birth mother, Rosalba, the woman who ultimately made Julie a parent. Rosalba’s chapters are some of the loveliest, most memorable parts of the book…. O’Dwyer’s writing style triumphs in the telling, begging her readers to grow in empathy, awe, and wonderment at the strength of this Guatemalan woman. I was engrossed in the storylines and dilemmas presented in this novel, and O’Dwyer’s rendering of what it means to be an adoptive family, the complexities of the mothers and fathers involved, and the intricate web of DNA and choice that weaves families together in unforeseen and often, unbearable ways.
Finally, the review concludes with a recommendation to read the book:
A story of how two mothers are forever connected by the son they share, Mother Mother is a novel whose battle cry declares victory despite the messy tangle of life. O’Dwyer writes a realistic and engrossing tale that shows how lives can be meaningful despite hardship and strife, true familial bonds are both birthed and formed, joy can be found amidst the surrounding and penetrating darkness, and love grows even in tumultuous times. Ultimately, the strength and resilience factors of Julie and Rosalba, the two mothers at the center of Juan / Jack’s story, are reason enough to pick up this book and begin reading.
Supporting other writers any way I can is something I’m always willing to do. Writing is solitary work until your book comes out and then it’s all about community. Here’s my review of a memoir I recently read, Bayla Gittel’s A Legacy: Echoes of Loss and Healing in a Jewish-American Family. Hope you enjoy! ~
Cover of Bayla Gittel’s A Legacy
Bayla Gittel’s memoir, A Legacy: Echoes of Loss and Healing in a Jewish-American Family, is candid, illuminating and well-told. By tracing six generations of her family, Gittel reveals patterns that repeat, with repercussions felt in her own life and the lives of her children. Gittel’s account of her disintegrating marriage, once so filled with promise and optimism, rings with tragic authenticity. Echoes from her ancestors’ biographies continue to reverberate. This sweeping examination of kinship and roots confirms the words of Katherine Anne Porter: “The past is never where you left it.” Indeed, as Gittel’s memoir confirms, the past is often right in front of us, ours to cope with as we will. Brava to Bayla Gittel for finding courage to tell her story.
— Jessica O’Dwyer, award-winning author of Mother Mother: a Novel and Mamalita: An Adoption Memoir
