​Patricia, a.k.a. "Mummy the Miraculous" Before she was my mother she was a concert pianist on the fast track to Juilliard. ​After she was my mother, I rarely heard her play anything, not even a simple scale. She worked second jobs just to keep food on the table and would negotiate with theaters, dance studios, and teachers, so that I could have experiences she couldn't afford. My mother always made sure I had art and joy in my life - and, to this day, fiercely supports me, s

Susan: Strong and Smiling Before she was my mother, Susan had already survived death and divorce by the age of 21. She loved the ocean and spent her summers at the beach. After she became my mom, we would sit by the ocean and dream about the future. The best piece of advice she ever gave me was: Never give up and always keep smiling. -Sarah Normandie: Writer, Lawyer, Super Mom and Lover of Stories

Alice The Spontaneous Before she was my mother, Alice was a beautiful little girl with blonde hair. She was a popular cheerleader at Thompson High in North Sydney, Cape Breton. She was an Anglican Minister’s daughter, a big sister, a stylish trendsetter and a very loyal friend. She drove illegally from the age of 12, as her mother’s arthritis made it too painful to do so herself. She loved Elvis Presley, French fries, a coke and a smoke. She loved to laugh and hers was infect

Olina the Artist This is a photograph of a painting of six white houses on the coast near Cape Town. The date on the back of the photo is 1963 – my mother was nine years old when she painted it, and it won a national youth painting competition. I've always aspired to create something quite this beautiful: magical, sophisticated, naive and confident. My mother is a woman who is stunning, strong and clever. She probably was all these things before she was my mother, but I don’t

All the way up to the launch of my debut novel Mothers and Other Strangers, we are discovering our mothers, and asking ourselves who they were, before they were ours. Sometimes the answer is complicated, as author and journalist Danielle Flood reveals in her terrific memoir, The Unquiet Daughter. Here she shares her mother with us. Before I was born my French and Vietnamese mother was mistress to my father in Saigon. Here she is with her brother, Alban Jullien, in the month i

Janice The Loving Before she was my mother, Janice was a budding photographer who loved to travel, go to concerts, and hang out at the beach. She had so many talents and interests it was hard to choose one to focus on. After she became my mom she turned parenting into an art form and I'd never get offended when friends would tell me that they liked her more than me because she was so cool. She taught me to live the life I've always dreamed of and be happy. This photo is of

Barbara the Beautiful Before she was my mom Barbara could best be described as a lover of life. As a result she brought joy and love into every space she entered. As a young teen, she was homecoming queen and voted most popular. This wasn’t because she was cool, although she was, it was because she loved people and people loved her back. Once she became by mom she continued to be the loving woman she had always been and certainly the light of my life. As I grew up my mom g

Before she was my mother, her pastime was escaping to quiet corners armed with books and girlhood dreams of happily ever after. After she was my mama, she realized that fairytales were only as real as the pages upon which they were written, but instead of growing bitter, she just read more and encouraged my own love of books. The best advice she has given me is to march to my own drumbeat. -Kim Williamson, writer, lover of books, adoring daughter. Photo: Janice a month before

It's officially two months from my pub date and tomorrow I am kicking off the Discover Your Mother series! I've asked writers, readers, sons and daughters, to send a photo of their Mother and tell us who she was before she was their Mom. In my debut novel Mothers and Other Strangers, Elsie is looking to uncover the truth as to who her mother Rachel really was, and discovers that before she was her mother she was a woman with a whole other life. It's a life that she knew nothi