Years ago, a reader shared with me how much she appreciated the focus on motherhood in my stories. This caught me by surprise because I’m not a mother and hadn’t intentionally made motherhood a theme in my writing. But this reader’s comment made me think about the role of mothers in my novels, and I found myself doing a deep analysis of my own work! It turns out my fiction often examines the relationship between mothers and daughters in particular, and nowhere is this more important than in my debut novel, Landrien Moriset.

In the novel, Landrien delves into her mother’s mysterious past and learns things that help her come to terms with their difficult relationship. In Eve and the Faders, meanwhile, the title character frequently calls upon the memory of her mother for strength and guidance during troubling or perilous moments. Eve even becomes a mother of sorts in the sequel, Aya and the Alphas, as she grapples with the responsibility she feels for a powerful little girl left in her care. It’s funny that motherhood features so centrally in my stories, considering that I am not a mother and never desired to become one. I would even say that my stories are more about daughterhood than motherhood. Yet are those two things truly separable?

At any rate, I like to think the centrality of mothers in my stories results from my deep respect for a role I intentionally chose to forego pursuing in my own life. I wish all the caring and nurturing mothers out there a very happy Mother’s Day (and if they have daughters, I hope they know they likely are their daughter’s biggest inspiration)!

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