The Sacrificial Daughter

When a mother's love becomes a daughter's burden . . . is there really a way out?

Single at thirty-five, schoolteacher Mary Ellen Kelleher is from an Irish-Catholic family whose aging mother expects her daughter to continue to live with and take care of her. Agnes comments to her friends that Mary Ellen needs to find a man . . . but is that what Agnes really wants? And what about Mary Ellen? She loves her mother, but has she grown complacent and thus agreeable to her mother's frequent, veiled demands?

When her good friends suggest she accompany them on a fabulous trip to China, Mary Ellen is ripe to rebel. She says yes and pays the deposit, not yet knowing that Agnes has offered Mary Ellen's services to drive her and three cronies to Cape Cod-and to chauffeuring them around for a week. When Mary Ellen says no to her mother, Agnes is angry . . . which fuels Mary Ellen's desire to break out on her own. The fact that she meets two very different, very attractive men while away certainly helps. But does the good girl, who has sacrificed an independent lifestyle for her mother's wishes, really have the courage to shake up her-and her mother's-world?

Mary Anne Kalonas Slack's short stories have been published in the literary magazines MUSED and Adelaide, as well as in the 2023 anthology, Our Wild Winds, published by Quabbin Quills. She lives in Central Massachusetts with her husband. This is her first novel. Find her at maryanneslack.com.