Motherlove By Jean Trounstine Book Spotlight!

 

MOTHERLOVE

By Jean Trounstine

Concord Free Press; March 21, 2024

About MOTHERLOVE

In MOTHERLOVE, acclaimed writer and social justice advocate Jean Trounstine turns her sharp eye on an often forgotten group–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, her characters are drawn from Trounstine’s decades of experience with prisoners and their families, making these stories all the more real, resonant, and unforgettable. 

Advance Praise for MOTHERLOVE:

“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  Pictures of You and Days of Wonder

 

“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

“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 know that nothing is more important than to keep reading.”

–Margo Livesey, author of The Road from Belhaven

About Jean Trounstine

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 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 U.S.

Trounstine has spoken throughout the world about women in prison, and co-founded the women’s branch of Changing Lives Through Literature (CLTL), an innovative alternative sentencing program.

In 2018, she was invited to Italy and awarded the Gramsci International Award for Theatre in Prison for her 30 years of work in literature and theater. 

MOTHERLOVE is the first fiction work from Trounstine, author of six other books—from poetry to nonfiction—including Boy with a Knife: A Story of Murder, Remorse, and a Prisoner’s Fight for Justice.