My Mother's Breast focuses on the unique psychological needs of women who must deal with the pain and devastation of their mother's illness while repressing their fears for their own health. By sharing stories of strength and courage, this book provides long-overdue support for the loved ones of breast cancer patients. When a woman finds out her mother has breast cancer, her world becomes a tornado, whirling with fears of her mother's disfigurement, pain, and death, and the panic and certainty that she will be next to develop the disease. Award-winning journalist Laurie Tarkan (whose mother died of a liver disorder when Tarkan was 11 years old) interviewed many women whose mothers had breast cancer. She chose 16 daughters' stories for My Mother's Breast , sprinkling each narrative with her commentary and that of psychologists. Many of the mother-daughter stories are love stories, but some are not. Felicia's mother told her, "One reason I have breast cancer is because you kicked my breasts when you were little." Kathie's mother hid from her the fact that she was dying, so Kathie was never able to say goodbye. Some of the daughters who are their mother's support system can't find support themselves, like Jill: "My mother had breast cancer, my father was a wreck, my brother [was] an alcoholic, and my grandmother was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. My boyfriend was giving me problems on top of that." Not all the daughters are models of virtue and emotional stability, either: 17-year-old Stacy was a self-destructive rebel even through her mother's chemotherapy; 13-year-old Julie became bulimic. Both the mothers and the daughters run the gamut of personalities and emotions. If you have a mother with breast cancer, you'll understand that you're not alone with your fears and concerns, and these real-life examples will enhance your understanding of your experience. --Joan Price Award-winning journalist Tarkan (Self, McCalls) tries here to help daughters of women diagnosed with breast cancer deal with the changes that come with their mothers illness or death, changes that can affect an already fragile mother/daughter relationship. Her book is split into two parts. Part 1 features 16 women whose stories, divided into subject-related chapters (e.g., Mothering Mom, Adolescent Angst, Depression and Fear), encompass the mother/daughter breast cancer scenario. Clinical commentary from professionals makes these accounts less compelling and less cathartic than many cancer narratives; readers will more readily identify with Gayle Feldmans You Dont Have To Be Your Mother (LJ 2/15/94). Part 2 discusses stratagems for daughters who fear their own illness and mortality and stresses the basics of early detection, getting all available information on treatments and therapies, and coping. This second section is informative, but whole books on the subject (e.g., Joseph Keons The Truth About Breast Cancer: A 7-Step Prevention Plan, LJ 10/15/98) are more so. A secondary purchase for psychotherapists, social workers, and counselors of women with breast cancer and their families and for larger public libraries and inclusive patient-health/psychology collections.Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. "[My Mother's Breast] is a well-written testament to the anxieties, emotions, and issues that these women experience. Also, the content regarding risk is thorough, clear, and accurate, which makes it a great resource for women at high risk for the development of breast cancer. "I have been working with this population of women for several years, and always struggled to find good information...Futhermore, how to address the emotional and psychosocial piece of their situation remains a challenge for clinicians, so we have decided to use your book as a reference for the patients in our Special Surveillance Breast Program here at Memorial [Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center]...to provide it to our participants who we fell will benefit, as it most definitely will be helpful to many women. I appreciate your contribution to these women through your writing." -- Randy Gross MS, RN, CS, AOCN, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Special Surveillance Breast Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center At 22, Sunshine London left her carefree life as a college student, model and surfer girl in Santa Barbara, Calif., and moved home to Las Vegas to take on the biggest responsibility of her life-nursing her mother, who had breast cancer, and caring for her five younger siblings...The story is one of more than a dozen told of daughters dealing with their mothers' cancer in an inspiring new book for the daughters of women with breast cancer. For the 180,000 women found to have breast cancer each year, the news changes not only their own lives, but also the lives of the loved ones who support them, and often grieve for them, author Laurie Tarkan points out. Daughters, in particular, face the sobering reality of their mother