This is the perfect book for Mother’s Day as if the title wasn’t clue enough. The beautiful collages by Natasha Cunningham highlighting black and white portraits overlayed with flowers adds to the theme.

Split into six chapters by Emily Freidenrich shows the warmth, love and osmetimes complex bonds of twenty five famous mother-daughter figures even ones spanning three generations like Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher and Billie Lourd.

It’s a bit flowy but I think it adds to the more thoughtfeel it is supposed to inspire as the first chapter delves into duos that step into the same career as their elder to make their own way most notebly with Diana Ross and Tracee Ellis Ross.

Chapter 2 discussess the impact of mothers that have died when the daughters are young and how their presence and lessons they learned or heard help them with the loss like Pheobe Ephron and Nora Ephron.

Chapter 3 details the ample support and biggest fans for each others work such as the Williams women.

Chapter 4 touches on the shadow that one might feel in the face of an ubertalented parent or spouse like Linda McCartney and Stella to their husband/father, Paul.

Chapter 5 talks about vulnerability and communication as a way to deepen that connection such as the Smith’s Red Table Talk.

The final chapter details the strength and importance of having your mother during your toughest moment like Chanel leaning on her mother, May May Miller after her assault.

These are short bios of two-three pages but their message comes across poignantly as Freidenrich uses their own words from interviews to portray the warmth and genuine love between all these women. I also learned a bit about celebrities I never knew like the chef Alice Waters and Bollywood star, Sridevi Kapoor.

So a lovely mother-daughter book that will inform and possible spark some conversation about the strength and complexity of the bond.