Motherlove
MOTHERLOVE is the powerful short-story collection from Jean Trounstine, an acclaimed writer and social-justice activist with a deep knowledge of the US prison system—and its devastating impact on our communities in Massachusetts and beyond. In MOTHERLOVE, she turns her sharp eye on an often-forgotten group—the mothers of children who kill.
With deft writing and deep empathy, Trounstine explores the stories of ten mothers, each struggling with the aftermath of murder. While fictional, Trounstine’s characters are drawn from her more than thirty years of experience with prisoners and their families, making her stories all the more real and resonant.
Motherlove Reviews and Articles
WBUR: New Book Highlights Stories of Mothers Caught Up in the Criminal Legal System
HorizonMass: Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Motherlove
Writer's Digest: Finding Freedom in Fiction Writing
Fierce Conversations with Toby: I Could Hear Their Voices...
About the author
(Photo by Richard Pasley)
Jean Trounstine is an author, activist, and educator who has written extensively about the criminal legal system in America. She worked at Framingham Women’s Prison (MA) for a decade, where she directed eight plays for prisoners—resulting in her highly praised book, Shakespeare Behind Bars: The Power of Drama in a Women’s Prison. Her groundbreaking work is considered the first Shakespeare program launched in the US.
MOTHERLOVE is the first fiction from Trounstine, author of six other books—from poetry to non-fiction—including Boy with a Knife: A Story of Murder, Remorse, and a Prisoner’s Fight for Justice.
If you’re looking for social-justice non-profit organizations to support, Jean suggests:
New Beginnings Reentry Services
Louis D. Brown Peace Institute
Mothers for Justice and Equality
Appalachian Prison Book Project
Praise for Motherlove
“How brilliantly, and how heartbreakingly, Trounstine makes real the articles we read too often in our local newspapers. Her stories capture, in ways I've never seen before, the passionate and profound truth; every murder involves the loss of two lives. As soon as you open Motherlove, you'll now that nothing is more important than to keep reading.”
– Margot Livesey, author of The Road from Belhaven
“In these gritty, moving, revealing stories, all of which are like jolts of electricity, Trounstine shows the human cost by revealing mothers who are brave, fierce, stubborn, full of hope and sometimes delusional. So incredibly moving, you’ll rethink everything you ever thought about our justice system.”
– Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of 13 novels
“RAW! The stories beyond the headlines. An unabated glimpse at the pain borne of a mother’s love for her child.”
– Shawn Fisher, prisoner, activist, and author
“Jean Trounstine’s unflinching collection of short stories, Motherlove, invites us into the travails of ten women, inescapably, bound to their children, often willfully self-destructive, absent husbands and communities hounded by dire circumstances, some of their own making and others that conspire against their better impulses. Each woman carries her own demons, but in Jean Trounstine’s deft portrayals, like Brecht’s Mother Courage, they remain indefatigable in their determination to persist.”
– Wesley Brown, author of Dance of the Infidels and Blue in Green
“In her extraordinary collection of short stories, Jean Trounstine gives voice to the women who dwell in the background of the criminal justice system—the mothers of criminal defendants who have taken another’s life. With each story, she uncovers the hope, strength and resilience of these women whose lives and dreams have been shattered by her child’s actions. Each character’s tenacity to simply go on in spite of challenging obstacles is inspiring. A touching and compelling read.”
– Richard A. Simons, First Justice, Berkshire MA Probate and Family Court
“The hardest job in the world is being a mother, and Trounstine's collection of mothers have the added burden of losing their sons to the criminal legal system's stranglehold. These mothers themselves are trapped behing glass partitions, court officers, and parole boards. Their strength and courage are driven by their stubborn loyalty to the sons who handed them hardship in a world already full of it, but Trounstine imbues each story with love and forgiveness. Motherlove is a necessary addition to prison literature at a time when reform can only start with empathy and understanding.”
– David Moloney, author of Barker House