This Is Your Mother

When Erika Simpson was growing up, her mother loomed large, almost biblical in her life. A daughter of sharecroppers, middle child of ten, her origin story served as a Genesis. Her departure from home and a cheating husband, pursuing higher education along the way a kind of Exodus. Her rules for survival, often repeated like the Ten Commandments, guided Erikas own journey into adulthood. And the most important rule? Throughout her life, Sallie Carol preached the power of a testimonywhich often proved useful in talking her way out of a bind with bill collectors.

But where does a mothers story end and a daughters begin? In this brave, illuminating memoir, Erika offers a joint recollection of their lives as they navigate the realities of destitution often left undiscussed. Her mothers uncanny ability to endure Job-like trials and manifest New Testamentstyle miracles made her seem invincible. But while our parents may start out as gods in our lives, through her mothers final months and fifth battle with cancer, Erika captures the moment you realize they are just people.

This gorgeously rendered story of a mothers life through her daughters eyes weaves together a dual timeline, pulling inspiration from both scripture and pop culture as Erika moves through grief to a place of clarity where she can see who she is without her momand because of her.

Erika J. Simpsonis a Southern girl living in Denver, Colorado, with her partner and their black cat. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Kentucky and is the recipient of the 2021 MFA Award in Nonfiction. Her essay If You Ever Find Yourself was published in Roxane GaysThe Audacityand featured in Best American Essays 2022, edited by Alexander Chee.This Is Your Motheris her debut memoir, and she also writes fiction for the page and screen.

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publish Date: May 6, 2025
• Pages: 224
• Language: English
• Typ: Hardcover
• EAN/UPC: 9781668024034
• Dimensions: 212.7 X 139.7 X 14.9 mm | 409.6 g
• BISAC Categories: Biography & Memoir, Family & Parenting