An Oprah Daily and Town & Country Best Book of the Summer
Molly Jong-Fast is the only child of writer Erica Jong, whose book Fear of Flying launched her into second-wave feminist stardom. When, in 2023, Erica was diagnosed with dementia just as Molly's husband discovered he had cancer, Jong-Fast was catapulted into a transformative year. How to Lose Your Mother is a memoir about an intense mother-daughter relationship, a sometimes chaotic upbringing with a fame-hungry parent, and the upheavals that challenge our hard-won adulthood. A pitch-perfect balance of acceptance and rage, humor and heart, it tells a universal story of loss alongside a singular story of a literary life.