My Mother's Island
This novel is a deeply moving tale of subterranean conflicts between a mother and her only child, of duty and commitment and honor to one's parents even when one feels damaged by them. Sarah must tend to her dying mother. With sorrow, rage, empathy, and touches of humor, the story reaches its irrevocable conclusion in a death scene where Sarah discovers a simple truth that had always eluded her. Sarah comes to terms with her mother and her past, finding at the end of her long journey both consolation and love.
Published April 1, 2002 by Curbstone Books
Praise for My Mother's Island
"...a daughter's death watch: loving, angry, remorseful, and profoundly reavealing of our lives as adult children. Marnie Mueller's honest and unsentimental novel helped me fathom the meaning of my own mother's recent death and should similarly serve other readers in negotiating the strong currents and unpredictable eddies of this milestone of primary loss." ~ Wally Lamb
"Mueller's writing has never been more pristine or her psychology more acute as she charts with courage and stunning poetic clarity the final round in an exceedingly difficult mother and daughter relationship..." ~ Donna Seaman, ALA Booklist "Starred Review"
"If you're looking for something really substantive that explores the mother-daughter relationship, read this novel. It's all here: guilt, love, fear, resentment and the hope that everything will be better. A powerful and beautifully written work that begs to be discussed." Fran Keilty, Atticus Bookstore, Middletown, CT in nominating it for a BOOKSENSE SELECTION 76.
"...Mueller has crafted an exceptional book about the spirituality of death and dying that gets inside the reality of losing a parent with an intimacy and depth that no self-help treatice can hope to match." ~ Publisher's Weekly