"Why would a mother ever abandon her child? And is an abandoned child destined to grow up and make the same mistake? These were some of Melissa Cistaro's questions after her mother drove off without explanation one summer. Decades later Melissa finds herself at her dying mother's bedside with 6 days to find answers, fearful that she could do the same to her own little girl. Then she discovers a cache of letters her mother wrote but never sent and stumbles on the answers she'd been seeking. Haunting and ultimately uplifting, Pieces of My Mother is about the choices we make and their repercussions on others"--Provided by publisher.

Front Cover; Front Cover Flap; Title Page; Copyright; Author's Note; Then: A House Underwater; Now: A House in Los Angeles; Now: Christmas Day; Then: Fire and Sugar; Now: Arriving in Olympia; Then: One at a Time; Now: Brown Speckled Hen; Then: Big Yellow House; Now: Cherished; Then: Merry to Melissa; Then: All Kinds of Flowers; Now: Mementos; Then: Prized Possessions; Now: Between Paper and Pen; Then: Terry, Our Ninth Live-In; Now: Into the Wild, Blue Yonder; Now: Transparent; Then: All Things Red; Now: Faithful; Now: Thirst; Then: Just Off Center Road; Now: Naked; Now: Tethered; Then: Warmth. Now: Inside OutThen: The Last Litter; Now: Ashes, Ashes; Now: Some Kind of Trust; Then: Rabbit-Rabbit; Now: Strike Three; Then: Getting to California; Then: Running on Empty; Now: Real Soon, Sugar; Now: Bleeding; Then: Pee-chees; Now: Four-By-Four Photograph; Now: Permanent Ink; Then: Gone; Now: Ache; Then: First Dance; Now: A Handful of Butterflies; Then: Pennies on the Dashboard; Then: The Devil Under Jamie's Bed; Now: Mind and Heart; Then: African Tomatoes; Then: Strip-Searched; Now: Monsters; Then: Brick Fight; Now: Oh, Bean; Then: Lola Asks; Then: Hands; Then: The Good Girl. Now: SolitudeThen: Clear Lake; Now: Darkness; Then: The Cost of a Blue Chair; Now: A Thousand Places at Once; Now: A Few Small Repairs; Now: Leaving Olympia; Epilogue; Reading Group Guide; A Conversation with the Author; Acknowledgments; About the Author; Back Cover Flap; Back Cover.