Not every woman’s story has a child in it, but there are some wonderful books that involve or revolve around mothers. As I celebrate Mother’s Day this year with a visit from my own amazing mom, I’m thinking of mother characters who play central – and complicated – roles in novels I’ve read this year.

In “Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee, Yangin and her daughter Sunja form the backbone of a Korean family that relocates to Japan in the early 1900s. In their bodies and their loving and sometimes contentious presence, they refine “home” not as a distant place or an idea from the past – but as a person you can trust to be both honest and kind.

In “Mother Land” by Leah Franqui, Swati starts out as a mother-in-law-from-hell type figure in the life of Rachel, an American who’s newly married and newly arrived in Mumbai. But through equally-weighted points of view, Franqui develops two open-hearted women who transcend simple role assignments. The novel ends in a video chat situation, but the friendship that develops between the two women is deeply satisfying.

In “Shuggie Bain” by Douglas Stuart, beautiful Agnes Bain is the center of the world for her young son, Shuggie. She’s also an alcoholic who sets curtains on fire to make a point and who dreams, without irony, of flying off of her parents’ Glasgow tenement balcony, where she’s still living in her late 30s, trapped by the drink, addicted to an abusive ex-husband and losing control of her three kids. Shuggie, though, loves her. And her presence, warped as it is, forms his life. It’s heartbreaking and beautiful in the way of a dandelion growing through pavement cracks. I’m only partway through this book, but deeply devoted. Watch for the post on this soon!

Who are some of your favorite mother characters from literature?