At Barton Friends, a D.C. prep school so elite its parent body includes the President and First Lady, three mothers throw themselves into organizing the annual musical revue. Will its Machiavellian intrigue somehow enable them to connect with their graduating daughters, who are fast spinning out of control?
For Barb Atkins, perennial Parents Association volunteer, the show is a way to prove her knack for defusing conflict. It’s also her last chance to win over her rebellious daughter with an offering of love. Meanwhile, hard-driving businesswoman Susan Logan is poised to take control—something she’s fast losing in her relationship with her daughter, who’s hiding a dangerous secret. Susan’s friend Amanda Marchetti is under serious financial pressure to return to the practice of law after twenty years as a stay-at-home mom. For her, the show is a path to rediscovering her long-dormant ambition to be a songwriter. And she hopes it will win her the respect of her uncommunicative daughter, who sees her mother only as a source of food and clean laundry.
Although Barb, Susan, and Amanda start out with the best of intentions, the final result is so disastrous it makes the evening news. But along the way, the three women discover some important truths about friendship, love, and the enduring strength of the mother-daughter bond.
In crafting The Mother Daughter Show, author Natalie Wexler drew on her own experience as a parent at D.C.’s Sidwell Friends School. By turns hilarious and poignant, this satire is a breezy and absorbing read that will appeal to anyone who’s ever had a daughter–and anyone who’s ever been one.