Nancy Pearl selected Mothers & Other Monsters as a "Books for a Rainy Day" on Morning Edition on NPR.

In her luminous, long-awaited debut collection, award-winning novelist Maureen F. McHugh wryly and delicately examines the impacts of social and technological shifts on families. Using beautiful, deceptively simple prose, she illuminates the relationship between parents and children and the expected and unexpected chasms that open between generations.



— A woman introduces her new lover to her late brother.

— A teenager is interviewed about her peer group's attitudes toward sex and baby boomers.

— A missing stepson sets a marriage on edge.

— Anthropologists visiting an isolated outpost mission are threatened by nomadic raiders.



McHugh's characters—her Alzheimers-afflicted parents or her smart and rebellious teenagers—are always recognizable: stubborn, human, and heartbreakingly real.

Print editions, including a collector's limited edition, are available from Small Beer Press.