Introduction / Maureen T. Reddy vii

Preface to the Duke Edition xv

Acknowledgments xix

Preface xxi

Part One: Birth 1

Part Two: Mothers and Fathers 53

Part Three: Children 105

Part Four: The Dark Lady 139

“A powerful autobiographical account. . . . Lazarre slugs it out with her own demons and the Great American Good Mother Myth. It will frighten people who don’t like to have their myths messed with, but a lot of others will breathe easier because of it.” — Louise Berkinow, New York Times Book Review

“Beautifully written . . . . The Mother Knot says the unsayable, crackling with insights. . . . At once profoundly consoling and terrifying, her finds are universal.” — Barbara Seaman, Washington Post Book World

“Many women will see themselves in Jane Lazarre’s beautifully written autobiographical account of her experience of motherhood, which is full of contradictory feelings and the conflict she felt between the portrayal of ideal motherhood and reality.” — Guardian

“A powerful autobiographical account. . . . Lazarre slugs it out with her own demons and the Great American Good Mother Myth. It will frighten people who don’t like to have their myths messed with, but a lot of others will breathe easier because of it.” —Louise Berkinow, New York Times Book Review

“Beautifully written . . . . The Mother Knot says the unsayable, crackling with insights. . . . At once profoundly consoling and terrifying, her finds are universal.” —Barbara Seaman, Washington Post Book World

“Many women will see themselves in Jane Lazarre’s beautifully written autobiographical account of her experience of motherhood, which is full of contradictory feelings and the conflict she felt between the portrayal of ideal motherhood and reality.” —Guardian

“The Mother Knot deserves a permanent place in the stirring body of testimonial literature American feminism has given rise to.” — Vivian Gornick

“A modern feminist classic, certain to leave its readers changed from the experience of reading seldom spoken truths.” — Maureen T. Reddy, from the introduction to the new edition of The Mother Knot

“A wholly original and important book. . . . I cannot imagine a woman who would not be moved, or a man who would not be enlightened.” — Adrienne Rich

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