In this post, you will find a summary of Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger, a review, a character guide, and an explanation of the ending. Like Mother, Like Mother is a character-driven family saga, told in a non-linear narrative spanning three generations. It is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking.
From the opening chapter set during Lila’s funeral, I knew we were in for an incredible journey with this story. It made me think about my family history and how my parents and grandparents’ upbringing affected my life. It also had me thinking about the legacy I am creating for my children and grandchildren.
If you are picking this book for your next book club (it would be an excellent choice) check out my post with Like Mother, Like Mother book club questions.
*please note, I listened to this story, so the spelling of some characters may be incorrect. I will fix any misspellings when my physical copy arrives!
Article Contents
Summary of Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger
The book opens with Lila’s death. Grace, her father, Joe, and her sisters (Stella and Ava) are preparing a Jewish funeral for their politically connected mother, who was a long-term editor of the Washington Globe. It is revealed that shortly before her death from cancer, Grace wrote a bestselling book about Lila that was not particularly flattering.
From there, we flash back between the timelines of the present day and Lila’s upbringing where she was raised by a violent father, Aldo, and a cold grandmother, Bubby, because her mother, Zelda, was committed to an asylum when she was just 2 years old. Lila was the youngest child and often took the brunt of her father’s beatings to protect her siblings from him. Eventually, Lila learns about the death of her mother in the Asylum.
Against all odds, Lila gets into college and works hard to succeed. She uses school as a cover while she looks for Zelda’s grave at the local Jewish cemetery. She can’t find it and is too proud to ask for help. After a few visits, she gives up the search.
In college, she slowly opened up to Joe, her TA, whom she eventually married. Lila’s Jewish family was working class, her father worked on the GM assembly line building engines in Detroit. Joe comes from a family of affluence stemming from the wealthier side of the automotive industry. His grandfather was a controller at GM for over 40 years.
As a mother, Lila is not very hands-on, deferring to Joe and their nannies for the girls’ care and upbringing. Even before they got married, Lila made it clear she wouldn’t be responsible for raising their kids.
Shortly before their wedding day, Bubby dies and Lila finds out she’s been spending $$ every month at college, taking care of her in her way. She’d left money to Polo and Clara as well and Aldo is furious that he got nothing.
Lila started as an obit journalist before going to DC to work for The Globe. Lila was fierce, and while pretty, her gumption and fearlessness saw her advance in her career.
Polo died fighting a fire trying to save children. First Jewish firefighter to die in line of duty. Clara mentioned Polo wanted to die as punishment for letting Lila take the beatings when they were younger.
Lila gets promoted despite being a woman. Joe put his dreams aside to let her succeed but asked her to remain home more. Instead, she became Executive Editor and increased her working days to 12 hours, sometimes sleeping at the office.She beat out Josh Morgan, a fellow reporter for the gig and he was bitter about it.
When the kids all left for college, Joe asked for a separation. She says she loves him, but Joe rattles off a list of how she’d let them down, including missing Grace’s high school graduation, the twins, college graduation, taking Grace to college, never visiting them, never going on vacation with Joe, etc. they were married 30 years but Lila always put herself before everyone else and he couldn’t take it anymore. After splitting, they saw more of each other than before and never formally divorced.
At The Globe there is a big story about Robert Web and the governor for pay-for-play promotions. Political reporter, Josh Morgan, Lila’s formal rival, hears about the secrecy surrounding the research of the story and says he wants in. Lila realized he learned about it by sleeping with a young reporter. She uncovered he lied about college and has been harassing younger women reporters. She decided to fire him.
The Lost Mother, a fictionalized account of Grace’s life with Lila, was published by Grace 3 months before Lila retired. Joe and Lila see themselves through Grace’s eyes when reading. Grace invents an affair between Lila and Doug to help explain why her mother was at work so often. She also fictionalized that Zelda never died, but ran away. Through the book it also becomes clear that Grace had an affair with Josh Morgan when she was just starting out in DC.
Lila found out after retirement that she had stage 4 lung cancer. She received palliative care and died in a few months.Upon her death, Lila – via note – tasks Grace with uncovering what happened to Zelda.
The story flashes back to Grace in college bringing her roommate, Ruth, to Tara for Thanksgiving. There she meets Francis, Joe’s mom. Grace returns the favor by going to visit Ruth in Florida and learning her family history. Which includes being the daughter of a single mom, whose mom was a single mom.
Ruth gets a job working for Joe. She takes a DNA test to find out who he father is via an ancestry site. She finds Bobby Lee, who is from a conservative Christian family. His family wants nothing to do with her.
Grace and the Starbirds go in search of Zelda. Doug becomes a mentor to Ruth. Francis’s health begins to decline, but when Ruth announces she’s getting married, Francis perks up and plans the wedding. Grace falls in love with Xander and says I love you for the first time. She practices by saying I love you to Ruth first.
Ruth starts her podcast “Elephant Memories.” Grace is in the first episode sharing her and Lila’s different views of what happened to Zelda.
Clara arranged for Grace to meet Aldo who explained he put her in a hospital because she cried all the time after having Lila. After 2 years there, she started a fire in her room and died. He speculates that she was probably buried in the fields behind the asylum, which is why she wasn’t in the Jewish cemetery.
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Like Mother, Like Mother Review
Plot
This family saga is told in multiple timelines about multiple mothers. It opens with Lila’s funeral in the present and her daughter, Grace’s reaction to it. But from there it flashes back to Lila’s childhood focusing on how her own mother was committed to an asylum in 196o by her father.
Against all odds, Lila rose to the top of her field prioritizing her job over her children, ignoring that Grace desperately missed her while she was off at White House correspondent dinners. She resented her so much, that she wrote a bestselling book based on Lila. Now Grace’s guilt over her actions in the years and the strain of her relationship has her looking back and pondering if you can ever know yourself without knowing the women who shaped you.
Trigger Warnings
Domestic Abuse
Why Kirsten loves it
From the nonlinear narrative to the deep dive into the intergenerational cycle of abuse and abandonment, this story had a lot of elements that just clicked for me. I was swept into the hunt for Zelda, weaving my fantasies about what had become of her.
I felt like Grace and Lila were deeply flawed in a wonderfully complex way that had me cringing and cheering them on in equal measure. I also adored Ruth, Clara, and Joe and the growth of each of the characters throughout this novel. I’ll be thinking about it for years to come. #gifted by PRH Audio
Find this book in: Family Saga Books / Summary of Like Mother, Like Mother / Best New Fiction Books of 2024 / Giftable Books
Like Mother, Like Mother Ending Explained (With Spoilers)
Soon after the meeting with Aldo, Grace opens the box of memorabilia her great-grandmother left for Clara – it has pictures of Zelda, Bubby’s invite to Lila’s wedding, and pictures of young Lila and her siblings. The Starbirds uncover Zelda changed her name to Frieda and remarried Herbert Berman.
The story flashes to Frieda’s life, where she was set-up with Herbert Berman by her Aunt Hilda. Herbert was a smart, nerdy boy with bad vision. He ran his own firm and supported Frieda in her quest for a degree, eventually hiring her to work for him. Her children, Dennis and Heidi, eventually worked together as well. Frieda eventually retires and joins a retirement community where she takes art classes and joins a book club. In the book club, she read’s The Lost Mother.
Frieda’s son Dennis did a DNA test years ago to find distant cousins. Grace convinces Clara to take a DNA test and the results show that she is Dennis’ full sister. Dennis is distraught by the news, at first having assumed he was adopted. Eventually, Heidi takes the same test and realizes she and Dennis only share the same mother.
Clara reaches out to Dennis and then meets him and Heidi with Grace. Heidi, Clara, and Grace confront Frieda about her past. She confesses and tells them her story.
She was miserable in her marriage and shortly after finding out she was pregnant with her fourth child, she tried to kill herself…twice. Aldo then committed her to the asylum. Bubby had told Freda about her Aunt Hilda. Hilda and the doctor from the asylum helped Zelda pull off the switch. In a particularly heartbreaking moment, Zelda said to Clara “One way or another I was going to abandon you.”
They leave soon after. Clara and Grace go back once more and Grace asks Zelda if she thought of the kids or her family or felt sorry for what she had done. She says no, I couldn’t look back and still move forward. Grace is upset that the truth has devasted Clara.
Clara and Dennis begin to connect. Grace accidentally gets pregnant and decides to get married to Xander. Once again Francis throws her a wedding – it helps to keep her alive. Ruth’s podcast becomes a smashing success. Bobby Lee Bates’s kids eventually reach out to Ruth.
Grace has a daughter, Frances Fieldstone Goldsmith Mayer , and write obits for the LA Times. Freida died 2 weeks after Grace gave birth. Clara went to Shiva and the funeral. Afterward, she confronted Aldo and told him he must have known the whole time. He told her to get out.
Grace and Clara chat and she says having a baby has put things in perspective – no one protected Lila from Aldo, but no one protected Zelda either. “They did what they had to, they did what they could.”
Themes of Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger
- Domestic Abuse
- Abandonment
- Family cycles
- Self-discovery
- Independence
Character Guide for Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger
Main Characters
- Lila – Grace’s mother, Executive Editor of The Globe.
- Grace – Lila and Joe’s daughter, writer of The Lost Mother.
- Joe – Grace’s father, Lila’s husband.
- Zelda/Freda – Lila, Polo, and Clara’s mom. Married to Aldo. Died in an asylum.
- Starbirds – Stella and Ava, Lila’s older sisters. Inseparable. Divorce lawyers in California.
- Aldo – Lila, Polo, and Clara’s Dad. Married to Zelda. Abusive.
- Clara – Grace’s aunt, Lila’s sister. Former ER nurse.
Extended Family
- Francis – Joe’s mom, owner of an estate Lila affectionately names Tara.
- Dennis – Aldo and Zelda’s biological child. Raised as Freda’s child via Herbert Berman.
- Heidi – Dennis’s half-sister.
- Bubby – Aldo’s mom. Raise Lila and her siblings after her mother was committed.
- Polo – Grace’s brother. Firefighter. Deceased early in the story.
Friends and Co-Workers
- Ruth – Grace’s best friend and college roommate. Host of Elephant Memories
- Doug – Lila’s co-worker, later Ruth’s mentor. Had a one-night stand with Lila.
- Xander – Grace’s Husband
- Bobby Lee Bates – Ruth’s biological dad.
- Josh Morgan – Political reporter. Grace’s ex-lover. Lila’s former rival turned employee.
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What to Read After Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger: Book Recommendations
Expert Tip
Consider choosing Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger for your next book club. There is so much to talk about and the themes are thought-provoking as well. I’ve created these Like Mother, Like Mother book club questions to make it easy for you!
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens at the end of Like Mother, Like Mother?
Grace finds out the truth about what happened to Lila’s mother, Zelda. She changed her name to escape her abusive husband and had a whole second family.
Is Like Mother, Like Mother a Good Audiobook?
Yes! Rebecca Lowman is the audiobook narrator for Like Mother, Like Mother. She does an incredible job. She also narrated The Last Thing He Told Me, Rules of Civility, and The Female Persuasion.
Related Content
- Like Mother, Like Mother Book Club Questions
Epilogue
As you can tell from the summary of Like Mother, Like Mother how much I loved it? Did you find this helpful for jogging your memory? Did you like this book as much as I did?
