Perhaps our most powerful and significant emblem, Motherhood forms the very fabric of our lives. Mothers leave enduring memories in our hearts and influence our culture -- art, theater, film, literature, and television. In this exceptional collection, some of today's most prestigious and gifted writers come together to share their personal reflections on motherhood. From a woman's choice to become a mother to the intimate inner workings of a mother's relationship with her children, the full, rich cycle of motherhood is brought exquisitely to life. These stories, poems, and essays -- some never before published -- are both real and imagined, and penned by daughters, sons...and mothers.

From Amy Tan's essay on a first-generation American mother and her acculturated daughter to Nora Ephron's account of living under the aegis of a career mother who drank as hard as she worked; from Maya Angelou's moving poem epitomizing the strength of a welfare mother to Mary Higgins Clark's poignant essay about her wild Irish mother; and from Joyce Carol Oates's haunting tale in which a woman finds herself visited by the ghosts of unborn children to Laurie Colwin's stirring story revealing a woman's thoughts and feelings as she's about to give birth, this collection will have you by turns laughing, crying, and waxing nostalgic. Whether you're far from your mother, just a door away, or long for the days when your relationship was simpler, this remarkable anthology promises to touch your heart, calm your spirit, and remain forever in your memory.