A Trusted Friend in a Complicated World
Updated on Feb. 28, 2025
These must-read books for mothers and daughters are all about the relationship that defines us—and the trauma (and drama!) that comes with it
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My 15-year-old and I are both big readers—and nothing delights us more than when we find books for mothers and daughters we can truly bond over. From old-school faves like Anne of Green Gables to new delights like The Summer I Turned Pretty, we can spend hours dissecting our favorite reads.
But our favorite thing is to read books that explore the relationship between mothers and daughters, which can be beautiful or fraught or downright traumatic. Whatever the case, the dynamics between mothers and daughters always make for a riveting read.
Here, I’ve gathered the best books for mothers and daughters to read together, from young adult stunners to book club picks and even a memoir, which will give you plenty to discuss—with each other or a good therapist, as the case may be.
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Genre: Historical fiction/family saga
First published in 1989, Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club is one of the definitive mother-daughter books of our time and one of the all-time best Asian American books. The novel follows the triumphs and travails of four Chinese immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters in San Francisco as they reconnect over a game of Mahjong, unraveling each woman’s story through a rich tapestry of interconnected vignettes. The book delves deep into the immigrant and first-generation experience, upending assumptions and expectations between mothers and daughters. Paired with the stunning 1993 film adaptation, it makes the perfect mother-daughter conversation starter.
Genre: Classic literature
Yes, the titular Anne from 1908’s Anne of Green Gables is, in fact, an orphan. But when she ends up at Green Gables and upends the perfectly proper life of one Marilla Cuthbert, she finds a kindred spirit—whether Marilla likes it or not—and a mother figure. The bond the two form over 20 years may not be of blood, but it might just go deeper than that. Found family is at the heart of this classic novel, with the pair enriching each other’s lives in so many different ways. Plus, Anne’s antics are still laugh-out-loud funny. Read together, then find the television adaptations—the delightful, old-school Megan Fellowes rendition from the 1980s and the more urgent and timely Anne with an E, perfectly distilled into three seasons on Netflix.
Genre: Women’s fiction
Want a mother-daughter escape to Italy? Then dive headfirst into Rebecca Serle’s magic-marked 2022 women’s fiction book, One Italian Summer. When Katy’s mom, Carol, dies just weeks before they were meant to take a mother-daughter trip to Positano, Italy, Katy decides to go anyway. Her career’s a mess, her marriage is failing and she’s pretty much falling apart—what does she have to lose?
When she arrives, she discovers the world her mother lived in and explored when she was in her 20s, like Katy is now. Not only that, but she also discovers a 20-something Carol, flesh and blood and breathing too. Of course, her mother doesn’t recognize her, but they have an immediate connection. As Carol introduces Katy to the magic of Positano, she discovers aspects of her mother’s life that might just change everything she thought she knew.
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Genre: Memoir
Michelle Zauner, songwriter and lead singer of the band Japanese Breakfast, released her debut memoir in 2021 to critical acclaim. Crying in H Mart is about food, family and finding your footing. Zauner writes about growing up half-Korean as the only Asian American kid at her school in Eugene, Oregon, and trying to live up to her mother’s great expectations. The pair connect the only way they know how: through food.
The book is also about coming home, at 25, to take care of her mother as she dies of cancer. It’s a memoir of growing up and growing apart, of mothers and daughters struggling to reconnect as adults and equals, of role reversals and catharsis in the form of food. A word of warning: Have snacks handy, and be ready to share.
Genre: Literary fiction
Published in 2023, Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake follows a mother and her three daughters as they reconnect at the family’s cherry orchard in Michigan while the world grinds to a halt in 2020. Away from the worries of life, Lara tells her girls the tale of a long-lost love, her romance with movie star Peter Duke during her time with the Tom Lake theater company, as they performed Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. The stories of the three daughters, Emily, Maisie and Nell, are woven through the book as they grapple with their own coming-of-age in the thick of a pandemic that will change everyone’s lives forever.
One of the newest books for mothers and daughters on our list, the novel is about being a parent and person, about growing up, about the choices we make and those we leave behind. And if you’re searching for the best audiobooks, you’re in for a treat because Meryl Streep narrates this one.
Genre: Gothic mystery
Published in 2024, J. Courtney Sullivan’s The Cliffs is a sprawling, epic tale about one very haunted house in Maine—with mothers and daughters at the heart of it. The mothers here are frequently (and sometimes fatally) flawed, and their daughters come to bear the brunt of it. But they’re hardly innocent themselves.
Since her teens, archivist Jane has been obsessed with the history of the old purple Victorian that sits cliffside in Maine. But as she delves deep into the history of the house, the ghosts that haunt it (literally and figuratively) may just be her own undoing. This mystery book is a masterful exploration of our expectations of what a mother should be.
Genre: Contemporary YA
YA readers may know Jenny Han as the beloved author of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy, which are also great books for mothers and daughters. But her debut series, starting with 2009’s The Summer I Turned Pretty, actually dives deeper into mother-daughter dynamics, exploring first love and those teen years when the very ground shifts beneath your feet. The adult storylines are particularly poignant.
Pair The Summer I Turned Pretty books with a mother-daughter viewing of the Amazon TV series, adapted by Han. It gives even more meat to mother-daughter dynamics in examining how Belly and her mom cope with a shared loss that devastates them both in profound ways.
Genre: Classic literature
Are you Meg, Amy, Beth or Jo? First published in 1868, Little Women is a favorite among generations for many reasons, not the least of which is that almost every woman can relate to one of the March sisters—and, of course, hope to have a role model like Marmie. A classic coming-of-age story, the book remains relevant today, with its themes of war versus women’s work, feminism versus patriarchy and the choice of love versus self (why not both?).
For a real mother-daughter book club deep dive, pair the original with Ann Napolitano’s riveting homage, Hello Beautiful, which also homes in on the lives of four lovely sisters.
Genre: Contemporary fiction
In her 2024 New York Times bestseller, Sandwich, author Catherine Newman explores the dynamics of middle age in her frazzled 50-something protagonist, Rocky, who spends her summer literally sandwiched between her aging parents and her 20-something kids at her family’s summer cottage on Cape Cod. As she falls into the throes of menopause, Rocky grapples with how far she’s come and how she got there—as a mother, a daughter and a human. This beach read should definitely spark some conversations: about middle age and menopause, the choices we make (and regrets we may or may not have), and the ever-shifting dynamics of family, with all its flaws.
Genre: Literary fiction
OK, so the title of Brit Bennett’s 2016 debut stunner, The Mothers, is quite on the nose for this list. But this is book club fiction at its most intoxicating—rich characterization, thick drama and lots of controversy to spark discussion, especially between mothers and daughters navigating conversations around choice and autonomy.
Shortly after losing her own mother to suicide, Nadia, 17 and lost, finds herself pregnant with the child of the local pastor’s son. She hides her secret under the weight of judgment from the church and especially her pious best friend, Aubrey—but the choices she makes at 17, as a motherless child herself, will have repercussions that last a lifetime. If you’re looking to add more books by Black authors to your home library, this is a smart, thought-provoking place to start.
Genre: YA thriller
E. Lockhart’s recent BookTok hit, 2014’s We Were Liars, offers the kind deftly woven sleight of hand that will have you flipping back to page one and starting over to see if you can figure out just how she did that. Which makes it one of the perfect books for mothers and daughters who are fans of atmospheric thriller novels that delve into posh family politics, mental health and the weight of the secrets we keep. Soon to be an Amazon TV series, this book is best accompanied by the 2022 prequel, Family of Liars, which maybe, just maybe, will offer readers some closure on the Sinclair family’s astounding antics.
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At Reader’s Digest, we’ve been sharing our favorite books for over 100 years. We’ve worked with bestselling authors including Susan Orlean, Janet Evanovich and Alex Haley, whose Pulitzer Prize–winning Roots grew out of a project funded by and originally published in the magazine. Through Fiction Favorites (formerly Select Editions and Condensed Books), Reader’s Digest has been publishing anthologies of abridged novels for decades. We’ve worked with some of the biggest names in fiction, including James Patterson, Ruth Ware, Kristin Hannah and more. The Reader’s Digest Book Club, helmed by Books Editor Tracey Neithercott, introduces readers to even more of today’s best fiction by upcoming, bestselling and award-winning authors. For this piece on books for mothers and daughters, Sona Charaipotra tapped her experience as a young adult author, the former vice president of content and a board member for We Need Diverse Books, the former books editor at Parents magazine and the co-founder of Cake Literary to ensure that all information is accurate and offers the best possible advice to readers. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
