Mama

The explosive novel that introduced the world to #1 New York Times bestselling author Terry McMillan.

Mildred Peacock is the tough, funny, feisty heroine of Mama, a survivor who’ll do anything to keep her family together. In Mildred’s world, men come and go as quickly as her paychecks, but her five children are her dream, her hope, and her future. Not since Alice Walker’s The Color Purple has a black woman’s story been portrayed with such rich power, honesty, and love.“A gutsy depiction of a soul in America...Powerfully evocative and inspired.”—The Boston Globe

“Mama is extremely funny throughout and at the same time honest about what a good woman will do to push her children higher than she can hope to go...touching and steadfastly unsentimental.”—Detroit Free Press

“Mama distinguishes itself by its exuberant sensibility...a fine novel.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Mama has Zora Neale Hurston’s vernacular humor and John Irving’s absurdity. McMillan is a master of black humor in both senses of the phrase.”—The Village VoiceTerry McMillan is the award-winning, critically acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author of Waiting to Exhale, Getting to Happy, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, A Day Late and a Dollar Short, The Interruption of Everything, Who Asked You?, Mama, Disappearing Acts, I Almost Forgot About You, It’s Not All Downhill From Here, and the editor of Breaking Ice: An Anthology of Contemporary African-American Fiction and It Was the Way She Said It. She lives in California.