Her Mother's Daughter - Softcover

Like the novels of Jojo Moyes, Liane Moriarity, Barbara Delinsky, this is a contemporary woman's novel that resonates with emotional impact and insight. Vivienne Bastain's life is an emotional roller-coaster ride, taking her from San Francisco to Paris to New York, with one constant: her mother Denise who is psychopathically needy for a love that will not leave her. This need goes beyond control to dangerous duplicity, destroying her daughter's sense of self, making her easy prey for manipulation and betrayal by others. Vivienne becomes a celebrated jewelry designer; along the way are three men, two of whom sully the word 'love' due to their own warped insecurities, and one, Jack, who loves her truly but cannot penetrate the wall of self-protection she builds around herself to shield her from the hurt orchestrated in the name of maternal devotion. And then there is her 'best friend', Maggie, a young woman who is dying a slow death of jealousy until she has no choice but to strike out--and strike hard. Over the years, Vivienne has been so afraid that her mother is right: only a mother's love can be trusted; anyone else's will disappear, disappoint, damage. She does not trust herself to love; how can she since she is her mother's daughter. Here is a story about secrets, about lies, about family. About self-discovery and strength. About bad choices and wise decisions. Most of all, this is a story about love, defined differently by those who feel it and those who use it.