Intimacy has always eluded twenty-seven-year-old Maggie Krauseโdespite being brought up by married parents, models of domestic blissโuntil, that is, Lucia came into her life. But when Maggieโs mom, Iris, dies in a car crash, Maggie returns home only to discover a withdrawn dad, an angry brother, and, along with Iris's will, five sealed envelopes, each addressed to a mysterious man sheโs never heard of.
In an effort to run from her own grief and discover the truth about Irisโwho made no secret of her discomfort with her daughter's sexualityโMaggie embarks on a road trip, determined to hand-deliver the letters and find out what these men meant to her mother. Maggie quickly discovers Irisโs second, hidden life, which shatters everything Maggie thought she knew about her parentsโ perfect relationship. What is she supposed to tell her father and brother? And how can she deal with her own relationship when her whole world is in freefall?
Told over the course of a funeral and shiva, and written with enormous wit and warmth,All My Mother's Loversis the exciting debut novel from fiction writer and book critic Ilana Masad. A unique meditation on the universality and particularity of family ties and grief, and a tender and biting portrait of sex, gender, and identity,All My Mother's Loverschallenges us to question the nature of fulfilling relationships.