Five Books Exploring Twisted Mother/Daughter Relationships

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When it comes to fraught, intense bonds, it’s hard to top the twisted ties between some mothers and daughters. For my new thriller, Gone Tonight (On-sale August 1), I wrote about a mother and daughter who are isolated in their little family of two— which is just the way Ruth, the mother, likes it. She wants to keep 24-year-old Catherine by her side because a menace is closing in. But is the danger coming from the outside, or from one of them? 

A thin, jagged line separates maternal protection from unhealthy control. There are no blueprints or hard-and-fast rules for where it lies—every family gets to chart its own emotional topography—but when it is crossed, daughters immediately sense it. The deeper a mother travels into the territory of control, the more immense the repercussions on her relationship with her children, and it’s something I explore in Gone Tonight. Ruth has created a fortress around her and her daughter Catherine that no one can penetrate. She insists they move frequently. She has a tracking app on Catherine’s phone. But now, Catherine is ready to fly the nest, and begin a life that isn’t entwined with her mother’s. And Ruth will do anything to keep that from happening…

If you’re like me and can’t get enough of creepy, scary or just plain strange mother-daughter stories, here are a few more I think you’ll love.

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon 

Teenager Madeline Whittier has a terrifying, rare disease—she’s basically allergic to the world. She can’t leave her house or interact with anyone other than her mother and her nurse. Then one day, a new family moves in across the street. From her window, Madeline finds herself looking into the ocean-blue eyes of a boy who will change everything for her. But Madeline’s mother is desperate to keep her daughter locked in the safety of their home. She’ll do anything to protect her girl. The twists in this book are absolutely wild—I tore through the pages in a day.

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy 

Being a child actor seems hard enough. Add in an overbearing stage mom and it’s a perfect recipe for dysfunction. In her raw, shocking memoir, actress Jeanette McCurdy of iCarly fame reveals how her mother controlled her life, restricting her calories, giving her showers well into her teenage years, and reading her diaries. Part of what’s so stunning about this true story is how well McCurdy, a real survivor, has emerged from her disturbing upbringing.

Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

This book kept me up at night – that’s right, I was completely terrified by the story of a little girl who wants more than anything to live alone with her father. And that means getting rid of her mother. Told from the points of view of both mother and child, you know something terrible is coming, because if seven-year-old Hannah has her way, one of them has to go. And her mother is starting to feel the same way.

Tell Me Everything by Minka Kelly 

Minka Kelly starred on the hit show “Friday Night Lights,” playing a privileged cheerleader. But in real life, her story couldn’t be more different. In her memoir, Kelly reveals the dark underside of her seemingly glossy life: She was raised by a single mom who worked as a stripper and struggled with addiction, and Kelly lived in storage units and strange apartments, and sometimes endured watching her mother be abused. Their bond was complex, and part of what makes this book so riveting is the way Kelly describes it in unflinching detail.

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave 

This isn’t your typical mother-daughter story, but I had to include it because the relationship is so beautifully crafted. Hannah Hall’s new husband Owen has a teenage daughter from a previous marriage—and despite Hannah’s best efforts, her stepdaughter completely rejects her. That is, until Owen goes missing and the two women who love him most team up together to find answers. The scare factor in this book comes from the outside, but the inner heart is the story of the slowly developing relationship between Hannah and her new stepdaughter, Baily.

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