Author: Adrienne Celt
Published: August 3, 2015 by Liveright, hardback.
Length: 272 pages
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy
Source: from a book box I purchased a few of years ago.
Stars: 4 Stars
Summary:
Since the difficult birth of her daughter, which collided tragically with the death of her beloved grandmother, renowned opera sensation Lulu can’t bring herself to sing a note. Haunted by a curse that traces back through the women in her family, she fears that the loss of her remarkable talent and the birth of her daughter are somehow inexplicably connected. As Lulu tentatively embraces motherhood, she sifts through the stories she’s inherited about her elusive, jazz-singer mother and the nearly mythic matriarch, her great-grandmother Greta. Each tale is steeped in the family’s folkloric Polish tradition and haunted by the rusalka-a spirit that inspired Dvorak’s classic opera.
Like:
This is a wonderful story that explores the ambivalence that comes with motherhood for many women. Not many stories or books about motherhood today focus on that ambivalence. The novel questions if a woman give up parts of herself when becoming a mother? Must she give it all up to be a mother? And the main character, Lulu, has examples of all the extremes of that ambivalence in her mother, grandmother, and the stories told to her about her great-grandmother by her grandmother. This novel explores a whether or not there is a different way to experience motherhood than is seen in popular culture depictions of it.
Also, this story is a folklore retelling and I love that sort of story. I’m not as familiar with the folklore of Central Europe, so I’m always happy to come across a new to me folktale in my reading.
Another thing I really liked about this book is that I could use it for a prompt in the Pop Sugar Reading challenge: A book that passes the Bechdel Test (click here for a definition of the Bechdel test).
Not so much:
I can’t think of anything I didn’t like so much while reading it.
What I’ll remember:
The beautifully story that focuses on a different way of exploring what it means to be a mother. I’m sorry that I didn’t read it much sooner. I think I say that about most of the books that I finally pull of the TBR and read.
Would I recommend?
Yes! This is a book I would recommend to everyone. It’s a few years old, so it should be easy to find and add to your TBR.
Click on these links to my other posts featuring this book:
So tell me what you think? Have you read The Daughters? Did you like it? If not, why? Let me know because I would love to chat about it.
Happy Reading, y’all!
April is over and it’s time for me to wrap-up the month long O.W.L.’s Magical Readathon. 
It’s time for another readathon. Yes, I just finished one readathon and am getting ready to start another. And it is The O.W.L. Magical Readathon hosted by Book Roast over on You Tube. It runs from April 1st to April 30th. And as with all of my reading challenges and readathons I am focusing on reading books on my TBR pile. It is a Harry Potter themed readathon that is in two parts. The O.W.Ls are in April and the N.E.W.Ts are in August. Basically, like Hogwart’s students, you sit “exams”/prompts that correspond to the career you have chosen in the Wizarding World. Rather than trying to explain it all myself, do 
After seeing all the work Book Roast does for this event and how creative it all is, it just makes me more excited about participating. She put together such a fun event. I will include links to the videos and google documents below so that you download and print what you need.
Coffee and Cats 