MOTHERS OF THE MIND

An examination of the mothers behind some of history’s most recognizable authors.

In three parts, Trethewey, author of The Churchill Sisters, takes a deep dive into the lives of the women who raised Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, and Agatha Christie. Although all three have been written about in numerous works, this book shines a fresh light on how they were raised and how the women who raised them shaped their work. Trethewey begins with Julia Stephen, Wolff’s mother, pulling from unpublished first-person accounts and historical documents. In this section, the author focuses on themes involving how Julia’s beauty was a hindrance throughout her life; while she was a muse to many, she was ultimately unable to escape her own demons. Even though Julia lacked vanity, “Virginia believed there was a penalty for her mother’s beauty.…‘[I]t came too readily, came too completely. It stilled life—froze it.’ It made her seem aloof and untouchable.” In the section on Clara Miller, Christie’s mother, Trethewey describes how Clara displayed a wide breadth of complex emotions and rich intelligence, as well as how Clara and Agatha’s relationship was quite different from Julia and Virginia’s relationship. “They adored each other and that unconditional love was the bedrock on which Agatha built her life,” she writes. Lastly, Trethewey delves into the tumultuous relationship between Aurelia and Sylvia Plath. “Reflecting the duality of her personality,” she writes, “there was a bond between mother and daughter as intense and loving as Agatha’s with Clara, but running alongside that version, in Sylvia’s mind there was an equally powerful relationship which was full of hatred and resentment.” Although each mother endured her fair share of challenges, they raised women who went on to change the course of literature. Trethewey provides an informative portrait of the similarities and differences among each of them.

An insightful biographical portrait.