An enthralling novel about three generations of strong-willed women, unknowingly shaped by the secrets buried in their family’s past.
Child abuse, domestic abuse.
Detroit, 1960. Lila Pereira is two years old when her angry, abusive father has her mother committed to an asylum. Lila never sees her mother again. Three decades later, having mustered everything she has—brains, charm, talent, blond hair—Lila rises to the pinnacle of American media as the powerful, brilliant executive editor of The Washington Globe. Lila unapologetically prioritizes her career, leaving the rearing of her daughters to her generous husband, Joe. He doesn’t mind—until he does.
But Grace, their youngest daughter, feels abandoned. She wishes her mother would attend PTA meetings, not White House correspondents’ dinners. As she grows up, she cannot shake her resentment. She wants out from under Lila’s shadow, yet the more she resists, the more Lila seems to shape her life. Grace becomes a successful reporter, even publishing a bestselling book about her mother. In the process of writing it, she realizes how little she knows about her own family. Did Lila’s mother, Grace’s grandmother, die in that asylum? Is refusal to look back the only way to create a future? How can you ever be yourself, Grace wonders, if you don’t know where you came from?
Spanning generations, and populated by complex, unforgettable characters, Like Mother, Like Mother is an exhilarating, portrait of family, marriage, ambition, power, the stories we inherit, and the lies we tell to become the people we believe we’re meant to be.
Don't just take our word for it...
“A novel in the spirit of Meg Wolitzer, Jean Hanff Korelitz, and the great Nora Ephron . . . Who says comedy is dead? It’s all here—incredible characters, joyful satire, a wisecracking newswoman, family secrets with a twist of lime.”
– Allegra Goodman, bestselling author of Sam
“Susan Rieger gives us perfectly messy, complex, witty characters searching for answers and connection. Long after you finish it, this book will make you think about the stories that shape us, the stories we search for, and what it means to pass them from one generation to the next.”
– Jennifer Close, bestselling author of Marrying the Ketchups
“With pungent wit and the fizz of a Tracy-Hepburn comedy, Susan Rieger writes about long-held family secrets and mothers good and bad with warmth and elegance.”
– Joseph Finder, bestselling author of The Oligarch’s Daughter
Taste the very first page
Lila Pereira died on the front page of The Washington Globe. She also died on the front page of The New York Times, astonishing and gratifying The Globe’s publisher, Doug Marshall. Lila had been The Globe’s executive editor, the female Jim Bramble, who’d out-Brambled Bramble, her predecessor during Watergate. In 2018, Lila and her Pirates, a gritty band of cutthroat reporters, exposed President Webb’s pay-to-play scheme and brought down him and his two hapless sons. Webbgate gave Watergate a run for its money. The Pirates collected two Pulitzers and a George Polk. Lila picked up honorary degrees from Stanford, UVA, and Georgetown.
Lila had retired on January 31, 2023. It was company policy for top editors to step down the year they turned sixty-five. Doug offered her a seat on the editorial board, but she declined. “I’ve never seen the point of the opinion pages,” she said. “All Talmud, no Torah. I want the facts, the red meat. I’ll die of boredom and aggravation.” Two months later, she was dead from Stage IV lung cancer. Everyone asked if she’d been a smoker. She had smoked in college, at parties. “I was a drinker. I should have gotten cirrhosis. Give it a rest. Bad luck.”
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