Two Novels, Three Dead Moms

Art and Death in Martyr! and How to be both

Hello readers,

Have you ever noticed how many stories start with “mom is dead”? The trope is so prevalent my daughter noticed it by age four. Ever since, the “dead mom book” has become something of a recognized subgenre in our household. 

The dead mom story is not limited to Disney, YA novels or movies in which the (cuter! younger!) future step-mother wins a widower’s heart just in time for the holidays. 

My very literary Reading about Artists list includes two novels with at least three dead moms between them. But with a twist: these are Art Mothers. 

September: Reading about Artists

I know some of you reading this miss your mom right now. I’ve wondered whether the odds any given story has a 44% chance of featuring a character whose mother is dead feels comforting to readers whose own mothers are with us only in spirit. 

You are not alone. And at the same time, you are living a singular experience, an arc worthy of a main character.

Or is it a drag, to encounter this particular figurative stand-in for both emptiness and f…