What We Once Believed

A coming-of-age novel contrasting a daughter's disappointment in her mother's abandonment with the generational differences around feminist values.Summer 1971. While women demand equality, protests erupt over the Vietnam War, and peace activists march, adolescent Maybe Collins' life in quiet Oak Bay is upended by the appearance of her mother, who disappeared nine years earlier.And with her return comes another surprise: she's written a best-selling memoir called THE OTHER MOTHER, about motherhood and Women's Liberation, which gives only passing reference to Maybe's existence. Camille, now an acclaimed author, is distant and confounding, and Maybe tries to piece together her mother's life-why she left, the truth behind her famous memoir, and the future of their fractured relationship.As Maybe searches for her place, so do the other women in her life: her independent and unchangeable grandmother, Gigi; her best friend's mother, Robin, who struggles with her roles as wife and stay-at-home mother; and Mary Quinn, a successful artist new to Lear Street, who seems to live only by her own rules. Their stories and struggles define how Maybe sees her choices as a woman and how she'll navigate a world that is dramatically shifting every day.But when Maybe discovers that her mother is writing another book-a book about her return-the betrayal is fierce and painful, and Maybe resolves to teach Camille a lesson that will change them all forever.