First published 1970
A mother faces the shifting ground beneath her feet as her child prepares to graduate and leave home. The ceremonies and celebrations that should mark triumph instead highlight the approaching emptiness. She watches other parents navigate this same passage, some with grace, others with desperation. Her own marriage, long defined by shared parenting duties, now requires redefinition. The graduate moves toward independence while she confronts questions she has deferred for years. What remains of her identity when motherhood no longer fills her days? The familiar routines of family life give way to uncertainty. She must discover who she becomes when the role that has shaped her dissolves into memory.
Genres: contemporary, adult-fiction, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-dynamics, identity-crisis
187 pages · Hardcover · W W Norton & Co Inc