This Is Your Mother - by Erika J Simpson (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Growing up, Erika Simpson's mother loomed large, almost biblical in her life. A daughter of sharecroppers, middle child of ten, her origin story served as a kind of Genesis. Her departure from home and a cheating husband, pursuing higher education along the way a kind of Exodus. Her rules for survival, often repeated like the Ten Commandments, guided Erika's own journey into adulthood. And the most important rule? Throughout her life, Sallie Carol preached the power of a testimony-which often proved useful in talking her way out of a bind with bill collectors. But where does a mother's story end and a daughter's begin? In this brave, illuminating memoir, Erika offers a joint recollection of their lives as they navigate times of poverty and stability, separation and togetherness, illness and remission. Her mother's uncanny ability to endure Job-like trials and manifest New Testament-style miracles made her seem invincible. But while those who raise us may start out as gods in our lives, through her mother's final months and fifth battle with cancer, Erika captures the moment you realize that parents are just people. Weaving together a dual timeline and elements from both scripture and pop culture, Erika explores how the lessons, dreams, and patterns we inherit influence our future, for better and worse. Powerful, moving, and unforgettable, This Is Your Mother is a gorgeously rendered story of a mother's life through a daughter's eyes as she navigates through grief to a place of clarity where she can see who she is without her mom-and because of her"--

Book Synopsis

"A beautiful story about an extraordinary mother's gift of love and hope." --Jeannette Walls, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle

From "a writer who's absolutely going places" (Roxane Gay), a remarkable, inventive debut memoir about a mother-daughter relationship across cycles of poverty, separation, and illness, exploring how we forge identity in the face of imminent loss.

When Erika Simpson was growing up, her mother loomed large, almost biblical in her life. A daughter of sharecroppers, middle child of ten, her origin story served as a Genesis. Her departure from home and a cheating husband, pursuing higher education along the way a kind of Exodus. Her rules for survival, often repeated like the Ten Commandments, guided Erika's own journey into adulthood. And the most important rule? Throughout her life, Sallie Carol preached the power of a testimony--which often proved useful in talking her way out of a bind with bill collectors.

But where does a mother's story end and a daughter's begin? In this brave, illuminating memoir, Erika offers a joint recollection of their lives as they navigate the realities of destitution often left undiscussed. Her mother's uncanny ability to endure Job-like trials and manifest New Testament-style miracles made her seem invincible. But while our parents may start out as gods in our lives, through her mother's final months and fifth battle with cancer, Erika captures the moment you realize they are just people.

This gorgeously rendered story of a mother's life through her daughter's eyes weaves together a dual timeline, pulling inspiration from both scripture and pop culture as Erika moves through grief to a place of clarity where she can see who she is without her mom--and because of her.

Review Quotes

"Candid and at times heartbreaking. . . . With depth, Simpson captures the complexity of mourning an imperfect parent who lacked the ability to provide the financial and emotional stability she desperately craved, while also illuminating how daughters can heal from their messy relationships with their mother." --Oprah Daily

"Evocative . . . Intimate . . . Incredible . . . a heartrending portrait of a complex mother-daughter relationship that is brimming with compassion and love. This is perhaps what Simpson does best--provide a balanced and comprehensive depiction of a wildly contradictory figure. . . . A spectacular gut-punch." --Atlanta Journal Constitution

"A Mother of a Memoir . . . [Simpson] artfully weaves together vignettes from her childhood and young adulthood to tell an evocative story about the moments when you begin to see your parents as people. This unique but relatable portrayal of a mother-daughter relationship is a beautiful tribute that doesn't shy away from complex feelings." --Real Simple, Best Books of 2025 (So Far)

"A debut memoir by the supremely talented Erika J. Simpson is an eloquent reminder that there are many complicated dimensions of mother-daughter relationships, some tender, some funny, some fraught with pain. Simpson urgently invites the reader to follow daughter and mother from Simpson's turbulent childhood in Atlanta, to a coming of age that both separates and further entangles them and finally to the inevitable, heartrending conclusion of their relationship. . . . This Is Your Mother honor[s] what became of their eternal, unbreakable bond." --BookPage (starred review)

"A searingly honest book about surviving America at the thorny intersection of race, class, and gender. . . . As it examines entangled family dynamics rooted in faith and loyalty, this poignant memoir reveals the life-long impact, for good and for ill, of the ever-powerful mother-daughter bond." --Kirkus Reviews

"A daughter's long-distance deathwatch animated Simpson's bewitching debut . . . Simpson enlivens the often bleak proceedings with innovative narrative techniques . . . Readers will be wowed." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Erika J. Simpson's writing--and the deep sense of soul illuminating every word--grabs you by the shoulders. To be frank, this book kicked my ass, in the best way possible." --Saeed Jones, author of How We Fight for Our Lives

"A gorgeous, heart-wrenching book by a writer at the beginning of a long and glorious career. Erika Simpson is a genius storyteller who renders the complexity of love and trauma and poverty and mother loss in a writing style clean as a bone. An astounding story artfully told, the narrative fractures when you need it to--the poetry rises when you need a respite--and the truth shines. This is an important examination of the black mother and daughter that you've never read before, and a truly fearless memoir that goes to the white-hot center without flinching, not even once." --Crystal Wilkinson, author of Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts

"In Simpson's hands, those worn out American cliches--poverty, grief, motherhood, to name only a few--take on new life, presented finally and masterfully with all the shocking, messy, undeniably hilarious truth they've always contained. I don't believe suffering is redemptive, but this timeless book almost made me revise my stance. It is a heartbreaking, soul-expanding triumph." --Casey Gerald, author of There Will Be No Miracles Here

"A beautiful story about an extraordinary mother's gift of love and hope--and how, against all odds, that gift triumphs over the harsh realities of life." --Jeannette Walls, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle

"Mother as archive, mother as lesson, mother as love, mother as a set of rules spoken and unspoken--Erika J. Simpson's singular debut memoir, This Is Your Mother, is a powerful story of how to survive America, and how to survive what our parents teach us about themselves and ourselves, too." --Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel

About the Author

Erika J. Simpson is a Southern girl living in Denver, Colorado, with her partner and their black cat. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Kentucky and is the recipient of the 2021 MFA Award in Nonfiction. Her essay "If You Ever Find Yourself" was published in Roxane Gay's The Audacity and featured in Best American Essays 2022, edited by Alexander Chee. This Is Your Mother is her debut memoir, and she also writes fiction for the page and screen.