Holly Chamberlin seems to be able to perfectly capture the relationship between mothers and their children in her works. One read in particular I enjoy is actually focused around the Christmas season. It’s called One Week in December and is the story of Becca Rowan, a successful New York executive, who takes the Christmas week off to spend with her family in rural Maine and fulfill a plan she has been hatching for months.

Becca’s family could be anyone’s family. They are literally all-American and share the qualities that large, tight-knit families do. But their closeness is based on a lie that each of them live every day. When Becca was a teenager, she gave birth to a little girl she named Rain. Because she was too young to raise a child, she gave the child up to her older brother and his new bride. What everyone failed to notice was that Olivia, Becca’s older sister, was to grow up barren and resent the fact that the child wasn’t entrusted into her care. Even their younger sibling, Lilly, who is not much older than Rain herself knows the secret.

Becca plans to travel to her mother’s house to spend Christmas with her family and reveal to Rain her true parentage. She hopes that Rain will choose to travel back to New York and live with the woman she has only know as Aunt Becca for her entire life. As Becca’s plans are make known, the family comes together and argues about what would be best for Rain and the family. Each person has their own opinion and as the arguments tense up the tension in the house reaches a boiling point.

This book asks a lot of questions related to family? What makes a true mother? How can a person maintain a relationship with a child they gave up for adoption? And what would that relationship look like?

What is your favorite book about a mother and the relationship she has with her child?