How to Lose Your Mother

A gripping memoir about mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, loss and healing, and what it means to finally accept your past and become an adult. Despite being raised in the shadow of fame, Molly’s story is both uniquely specific and utterly, exquisitely relatable. – Lori Gottlieb, author of Maybe You Should Talk to SomeoneBy turns hilarious and heartbreaking. – Oprah Daily, The most anticipated books of 2025Often rancorous, sometimes furious, never self-indulgent … there’s also love in this book. The imperfect, painful, and maddening kind that so many readers will undoubtedly be able to relate to. * The Financial Times *Mesmerizing, intimate, wise, unputdownable, crazily honest, heartbreaking, funny, illuminating – Beautiful and painful at the same time, just like real life. – Anne Lamott, author of Bird by BirdUnsparing … a score-settling marathon at times, but also a loving elegy. * The New York Times *A riveting reckoning on the challenging ties many have to their parents … Both heartbreaking and humorous. * New York Observer *Conveys the mess, terror, loneliness and glory of familial love, in all its riveting complexity. – Claire Messud, author of This Strange Eventful History Resisting tidy sentiment or easy answers, Jong-Fast dives headfirst into the often-difficult ambiguities of parent-child bonds. The results are stunning. * Publishers Weekly *Manages to leaven the pain with self-deprecating humour and a mighty reservoir of love … … arming us all with lines so good you won’t just want to underline them, you will want to cut them out to share. * The Washington Post *The best book Jong-Fast could have written about the worst year of her life. * Kirkus *

Molly Jong-Fast is the author of three books, a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, a political analyst for MSNBC News and host of the Fast Politics podcast. She lives in Manhattan. How to Lose Your Mother is her fifth book.