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Also by Ayelet Waldman:

A Perfect Hand, May 2026
Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook
Red Hook Road, July 2010
Hardcover
Bad Mother, May 2010
Hardcover
Bad Mother, May 2009
Hardcover
Bye-Bye, Black Sheep, July 2007
Paperback (reprint)
Bye-Bye, Black Sheep, August 2006
Hardcover
Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, January 2006
Hardcover
Murder Plays House, July 2004
Hardcover
Death Gets a Time-Out, June 2004
Paperback
A Playdate with Death, July 2003
Paperback
The Big Nap, July 2002
Paperback
Nursery Crimes, July 2001
Paperback

BAD MOTHER
By: Ayelet Waldman

A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace

Doubleday
May 2009
On Sale: May 5, 2009
224 pages
ISBN: 0385527934
EAN: 9780385527934
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction

In the tradition of recent hits like The Bitch in the House and Perfect Madness comes a hilarious and controversial book that every woman will have an opinion about, written by America’s most outrageous writer.

In our mothers’ day there were good mothers, neglectful mothers, and occasionally great mothers.

Today we have only Bad Mothers.

If you work, you’re neglectful; if you stay home, you’re smothering. If you discipline, you’re buying them a spot on the shrink’s couch; if you let them run wild, they will be into drugs by seventh grade. If you buy organic, you’re spending their college fund; if you don’t, you’re risking all sorts of allergies and illnesses.

Is it any wonder so many women refer to themselves at one time or another as “a bad mother”? Ayelet Waldman says it’s time for women to get over it and get on with it, in a book that is sure to spark the same level of controversy as her now legendary “Modern Love” piece, in which she confessed to loving her husband more than her children.

Covering topics as diverse as the hysteria of competitive parenting (Whose toddler can recite the planets in order from the sun?), the relentless pursuits of the Bad Mother police, balancing the work-family dynamic, and the bane of every mother’s existence (homework, that is), Bad Mother illuminates the anxieties that riddle motherhood today, while providing women with the encouragement they need to give themselves a break.

Media Buzz

CBS Sunday Morning - May 10, 2009
Today - May 7, 2009
Fresh Air - NPR - May 5, 2009