10 Perfect Books for Mom

Was Lord Byron’s only legitimate child as vainglorious as her brilliant but scandalous father? Actually, Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, was a gifted mathematician whose mother steered her from frivolous pursuits into a life of academics. How she navigates London society as an adult is the subject of Chiaverini’s latest work of historical fiction.

Leave it to Anne Lamott to make us laugh when the chips are down. Her sunny optimism and witty encouragement tumble off the pages and into your consciousness. She’s the voice that reestablishes your sense of hope and belief in the future. You cry on her shoulder—and then feel eons lighter.

The joys and struggles of family life emerge poignantly in this story that traces one Indian-American family’s history. Fatima Farheen’s debut raises issues of identity and belonging, and eloquently depicts what it’s like to straddle two cultures and find one’s place in the world—a predicament many will find relatable.

This sweeping family drama is set in 1911 Vienna and introduces us to the Goldbaums, a wealthy and influential Austrian clan. Heiress Greta Goldbaum finally finds happiness and a sense of belonging, only to have it cruelly interrupted by war and politics. Will she accept change for her own good, or cling to her hard-won serenity?

Deborah Harkness’s paranormal romance novel takes Marcus MacNeil on a time-traveling adventure, from the battlefields of the Revolutionary War to present-day Paris—after he’s morphed into a vampire. Although he’s immortal, Marcus is challenged by this status and finds that he may not be able to escape his past.

It’s a little-known fact that Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, is a self-taught chef. For all her prowess in the kitchen, she learned by studying others. In Cook Like a Pro, she shares her secrets and tips to gain her kind of confidence when cooking for friends and family.

Virginia’s Red Truck Rural Bakery—beloved by everyone from Mary Chapin Carpenter and Barack Obama to the Lee Brothers—extends its Southern hospitality to your kitchen with this collection of recipes, gorgeous photographs, and charming anecdotes.

A lakeside lodge in an isolated Alaskan town is the setting for bestselling author Debbie Macomber’s latest novel. Faith in the unknown is what powers this narrative, which traces a couple from a fated first meeting to their potential fracture, due to complications of family.

Fiction, journalism, self-help: is there anything Anna Quindlen can’t tackle with smarts, sensitivity, and humor? One of America’s most-loved writers is back with this sharply observed novel that examines what it’s really like to be a woman, a wife, and a mother during a moment of reckoning.

Winter follows Autumn in the Man Booker Prize-nominated, Scottish author’s seasonal series, and—unlike a blustery day in England—it’s a notably warm and fuzzy story. When four people, strangers and family, converge on a Cornwall house at Christmastime, what could possibly go wrong?