From William Logan…

Happy families are all alike, but unhappy families … look out! Your mother will leave journals, Hollywood will option them, and Gwyneth Paltrow star in the movie (lucky you, it will bomb at the box-office). Frieda Hughes is the daughter of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, a fact suppressed in her first book but known to anyone not on long-term duty in the Antarctic. Her original idea in Forty-Five, her fourth, is to devote a poem to each year of her life—and then make a painting about it, too. Thanks to Dale for pointing out these reviews.

From Rachel Zucker…

My sons went to day care from a young age (I would have lost my mind if they hadn’t) and their existence heightened my desire to write and to work outside the home. I’ve spent a lot of time as a mother wanting to leave. A lot. And I’ve spent a lot of time “gone.” I’ve been behind closed doors writing as my boys cried for me, resisting the bribes and pleas of various babysitters. I’ve traveled without my children more than most mothers I know and I certainly didn’t change my name when I married. But I’ve also worked my heart out making this a family and a family life that I don’t feel as stiffled by and now I’ve gone and had baby #3 instead of going to a writer’s colony or enjoying the relative freedom I have of having a 6 and 8 year old. I did this on purpose.