Mothers And Other Strangers

"My father proposed to my mother at gunpoint when she was nineteen, and knowing that she was already pregnant with a dead man’s child, she accepted." Thus begins this riveting story of a woman's quest to understand her recently deceased mother, a glamorous, cruel narcissist who left her only child an inheritance of debts, threats, and mysteries.

The past is a ruthless hunter ... Ravi’s idyllic childhood ended the day he watched his mother, Radha, climb into a truck in the wee hours of the morning. Abandoned with his disease-stricken father, Mahesh, Ravi is hurtled into adulthood and the big, bad world. But respite from hardship is brief as father and son are parted and Ravi escapes to Mumbai to find fame and fortune in the big city. Here, in the hustle and bustle of the metropolis, Ravi can forget his past and concentrate on building a future as a successful Bollywood composer. He meets Sandhya, a beautiful, educated young socialite and is engaged to marry her. But when a body is found on the railway tracks, Ravi’s charmed existence is threatened by police enquiries that probe into his past.

In "Children and Other Strangers, "Ruth Szold Ginzberg offers a personal view of modern women who now have choices concerning marriage, child-rearing, and families. It is written from the perspective and experiences of a mother of three who belongs to the generation of women who came of age in the 1940s and who had little choice but to follow the socially prescribed path of domesticity. Combining analysis, autobiography, and humor in equal parts, this book is a pleasure to read as well as a clear-eyed look at a critically important subject. The author proceeds from the provocative assumption that the women's revolution is the most important social development of the twentieth century. In the experience of many women, the defining questions of that revolution turned on personal issues of marriage and motherhood as much as on the public issues of political and economic equality. Today such personal issues are largely determined by free personal choice; it is possible for couples to maintain a close emotional bond without entering into a marriage arrangement. In Ruth Ginzberg's view the only appropriate reason for a woman to marry is to have children. In spite of these unprecedented freedoms, much of the book's argument maintains that young women today have little idea of what having children really connotes in terms of loss of freedom for the mother, constraints on her time and energy, the disruptions that children introduce into adult relationships, and above all that once a mother, the bond is for life. "Children and Other Strangers is "a memoir rich in wisdom and perception. It will be of interest to women's studies specialists, psychologists, and social workers.

First Published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Carol Malyon writes of women's lives, of their relationships with lovers, mothers, children, other women. She explores the relationships between memory and truth. "Lovers & Other Strangers" consists of small stories, snapshots of women's lives in specific times and situations. The setting and characters vary but the theme remains fixed: that there is a fundamental and irreconcilable discord between men and women, in their view of the world, their modes of communication, the way they view themselves, the way they view others. Carol Malyon's stories are nearly all unconventionally brief and intense in feeling. They are essentially a poet's stories but they most definitely are not that revolting hybrid prose-poetry'. This writing is hard, direct, forceful. She is among those writers who are forcing us to reconsider the nature and form of the short story in Canada. The stories are often prickly. They illuminate, but illuminate darkly. Malyon gazes down into the emotional chasm which seems to seperate men and women, parents and children, and the images she brings to the surface are not quite like anything you've read before ... though you recognize them and know they're true. Perhaps the only Canadian stories at all comparable are those of Carol Shields in "Various Miracles" and "The Orange Fish."

Set in Jaffa in between 1947 and 1951, this “fable-like historical novel of young love ... darkly humorous and touching” (Oprah Daily) is based on a true story during the beginning of the destruction of Palestine and displacement of its people. Based on the true story of two Jaffa teenagers, Mother of Strangers follows the daily lives of Subhi, a fifteen-year-old mechanic, and Shams, the thirteen-year-old student he hopes to marry one day. In this prosperous and cosmopolitan port city, with its bustling markets, cinemas, and cafés on the hills overlooking the Mediter­ranean Sea, we meet many other unforgettable charac­ters as well, including Khawaja Michael, the elegant and successful owner of orange groves above the harbor; Mr. Hassan, the tailor who makes Subhi’s treasured English suit, which he hopes will change his life; and the very mischievous and outrageous Uncle Habeeb, who insists on introducing Subhi to the local bordello. With a thriving orange export business, Jaffa had always been a city welcoming to outsiders—the “Mother of Strangers”—where Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived peacefully together. Once the bombardment of the city begins in April 1948, Suad Amiry gives us the grim but fascinating details of the shock, panic, and destruc­tion that ensues. Jaffa becomes unrecognizable, with neighborhoods flattened, families removed from their homes and separated, and those who remain in constant danger of arrest and incarceration. Most of the popula­tion flees eastward to Jordan or by sea to Lebanon in the north or to Egypt and Gaza in the south. Subhi and Shams will never see each other again. Suad Amiry has written a vivid and devastating ac­count of a seminal moment in the history of the Middle East—the beginning of the end of Palestine and a por­trait of a city irrevocably changed.

In 1982, a young girl joins an elite chorus called the Singing Pines from a high school in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. After performing at a Miami Dolphins football game, the group catches the attention of the CIA, who invite them to appear on the Today Show. The group is soon sent on a State Department-sponsored goodwill mission to Poland, unaware of the ulterior motive behind their tour. As they perform for captivated audiences, the Singing Pines encounter challenges from Polish authorities, student unions, and hostile regimes. Despite the language barrier and danger, the group realizes their strength and what they can accomplish. Based on a true story, this novel follows the journey of 16, 17, and 18-year-old American teenagers as they unwittingly become part of a plan to help Poland achieve democracy through the subtle art of influence and music. Narrated by the 17-year-old heroine, Jordan Davis, the story is set in Florida, New York, Washington, D.C., and various cities in Poland. Interspersed throughout the narrative are historical references to real events, giving an accurate picture of the U.S. government and Vatican involvement in the first cracks in the iron curtain. With themes of bravery, diplomacy, and the power of music, this is a captivating and inspiring story of how a group of young Americans helped to bring down the iron curtain.

In this anthology of creative nonfiction, twenty-eight writers set out to discover what they know, and don't know, about the person they call Mother. Celebrated writers Samia Serageldin and Lee Smith have curated a diverse and insightful collection that challenges stereotypes about mothers and expands our notions of motherhood in the South. The mothers in these essays were shaped, for good and bad, by the economic and political crosswinds of their time. Whether their formative experience was the Great Depression or the upheavals of the 1970s, their lives reflected their era and influenced how they raised their children. The writers in Mothers and Strangers explore the reliability of memory, examine their family dynamics, and come to terms with the past. In addition to the editors, contributors include Belle Boggs, Marshall Chapman, Hal Crowther, Clyde Edgerton, Marianne Gingher, Jaki Shelton Green, Sally Greene, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, Eldridge "Redge" Hanes, Lynden Harris, Randall Kenan, Phillip Lopate, Michael Malone, Frances Mayes, Jill McCorkle, Melody Moezzi, Elaine Neil Orr, Steven Petrow, Margaret Rich, Omid Safi, James Seay, Alan Shapiro, Bland Simpson, Sharon K. Swanson, and Daniel Wallace.