Mothers-in-Law and Daughters-in-Law: Love, Hate, Rivalry and Reconciliation

by Susan Shapiro Barash

Susan Shapiro Barash, acclaimed author of Second Wives and Sisters, turns her penetrating powers of observation to the oldest of triangles, exploring the uncharted dimensions of mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, and son/husband roles. Women whose mother/daughter-in-law status is fast approaching, newly acquired, or well established will benefit from this book, as will the son/husband stuck in the middle. Barash leads readers through this complex relationship to a better understanding of the dynamics of insecurity, generational jealousies, child rearing dilemmas and power struggles. Utilizing an extensive survey of hundreds of women, their mothers-in-law and the men they share, Barash presents the real voices of those affected, the mixed feelings and problems faced as well as the ways in which they learned to cope and solutions devised. Interspersed with these first-hand accounts are the insights and recommendations of noted psychologists and relationship counselors.

From Mothers-in-law and Daughters-in-law, readers will learn how to create a mutually independent and rewarding relationship that allows mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, and son/husband to grow.

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2001

About the author

Susan Shapiro Barash has written over a dozen nonfiction books, including Tripping the Prom Queen, You’re Grounded Forever, But First Let’s Go Shopping and Toxic Friends: The Antidote for Women Stuck in Complicated Friendships. For more than twenty years she taught gender studies in the Writing Department at Marymount Manhattan College and has guest taught creative nonfiction at the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. For her fiction, Between the Tides, A Palm Beach Wife, A Palm Beach Scandal, and Maribelle’s Shadow, she writes as Susannah Marren.

She has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Elle, Marie Claire, and has appeared on national television including the Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC. Barash has been a guest on national radio including NPR and Sirius Radio. Speaking appearances include Credit Suisse, Bayer Diagnostics, UBS, United Way, Kravis Center and the Society of the Four Arts.

In 2021 she received the New York State Assembly Member’s Exceptional Leadership Award, presented by Rebecca Seawright. The following year, Susan won the 2022 Speak Up Talk Radio Firebird Book Award for her novel A Palm Beach Wife.

She has served as a literary panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts, as a judge for the International Emmys, and as Vice Chair of the Mentoring Committee of the Women’s Leadership Board at the JFK School of Government, Harvard. Susan belongs to Greenwich Pen Women (Pen Women America), NYWIFT, the Authors Guild and ASJA.




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Reviews

[Stan York · Rating 3 out of 5]

After hearing this Ms Barash interviewed for a newer book, I got this book as a sort of Mother's Day gag for my wife who will soon be a Mother-In-Law.

An easy read, but very thin (not in pages, but in content). Do not expect constructive advise or insight.

The takeaway is basically "Mellowing with the Years".

[Callie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learning some great things from this book if you have hard time with your Mother-in-Law or your Daughter-In-Law it holds some valuable information.