Between Ourselves: Letters Between Mothers and Daughters 1750-1982

by Karen Payne

Book Overview

A collection of letters between mothers and daughters, from 1750 to the present, this book reveals the ways in which women through the ages have struggled to break free of constraints and defy... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395365716
• ISBN13: 9780395365717
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Inspirational

I am half-way through this book and it is wonderful. Such an ode to letterwriting itself not to mention between mothers and daughters. The struggles these women write about are all too familiar for any woman, from the most wonderfully positive supportive letters to the letters seeped in conflicts of opinion and morals. Another great thing about this book is that if a particular mother/daughter relationship interests you the author always mentions if they have a separate book published of just their letters. Anyway from Lady Montagu to Susan B Anthony to Helen Keller this book is wonderfully inspiring.

Simply Wonderful

This book sparked my love of reading letters and diaries. It is a wonderful compilation of letters written between mothers and daughters that spans 232 years (no e-mails in this book). Letters range from everyday occurrences to issues that are relatively unique to that period (such as abortion). The relationships between these mothers and daughters (some well known, others unknown to anyone except the editor) ranges from friendships to antagonistic. It's hard to really describe this book because of the range of these letters. Many letters are anonymous, some do not come with responses, and some sections are devoted to one mother and daughter writing to each other back and forth. When the author of these letters is known, a brief biography is given to shed some light on who the woman was who wrote a letter. Except for some well known American women, most of the women compiled here are from England, some from elsewhere. This book mainly focuses on emotions and not events, but it's a fantastic glimpse into the lives of mothers and daughters spanning a couple of hundred years.