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The Unmooring of Mrs. Mango
Mrs. Mango has been married to her second choice for forty-two years, mindlessly trudging through her mundane life—except when she's dreaming of the fancy wedding she'll throw for still-single daughter Christine, or when she allows herself a half-hour locked in the bathroom to write tragic letters to her first love, Raul. When Christine announces at Thanksgiving dinner that she is gay and her friend Sarah is actually her girlfriend, disapproving Mrs. Mango is shaken to her core. Off kilter from her daughter’s perceived betrayal, Mrs. Mango’s quiet life tilts into a bewildering series of crazy happenings involving her husband, four grown children, dogs, cats, nosy neighbors, octogenarians, babies, random strangers and even a shaman. As family strife builds, Mrs. Mango is forced to confront her rigid world view, the secret she herself has hidden for almost fifty years, and the cause of a painful rift with her own mother. In the process, she discovers that what she thought she knew about love (and sex, definitely sex) was all wrong. The perfect book club pick.
453 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 3, 2020
9 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
About the author
Lynn Rankin-Esquer
4 books19 followersLynn Rankin-Esquer, Ph.D. is a psychologist and author living in the SF Bay area, and according to her children she is ‘the goddess of potato buttering.’
Her latest work is on a cozy mystery series set in the professional organizing world. Murder, Mess, and the Tangerine Dress: An Order Out of Chaos Mystery Book 1 (XandL Press, 2025) is the first released and the second will be released Jan 2, 2026. She is also the author of the family dramedy 'The Unmooring of Mrs. Mango' (XandL Press, 2020), and the YA novel 'My Paperback Cape: The Unlikely Odyssey of a Bookworm' (XandL Press, 2013).
Lynn is blogging at: https://lynnrankinesquer.wordpress.com/
She also recently started a substack called Married to Baseball chronicling the life of a baseball coach's wife (hint: baseball is a rollercoaster of a life!) https://substack.com/@lynnrankinesquer
Visit her at http://lynnrankin-esquer.com/ and https://twitter.com/LRankinEsquer
Her latest work is on a cozy mystery series set in the professional organizing world. Murder, Mess, and the Tangerine Dress: An Order Out of Chaos Mystery Book 1 (XandL Press, 2025) is the first released and the second will be released Jan 2, 2026. She is also the author of the family dramedy 'The Unmooring of Mrs. Mango' (XandL Press, 2020), and the YA novel 'My Paperback Cape: The Unlikely Odyssey of a Bookworm' (XandL Press, 2013).
Lynn is blogging at: https://lynnrankinesquer.wordpress.com/
She also recently started a substack called Married to Baseball chronicling the life of a baseball coach's wife (hint: baseball is a rollercoaster of a life!) https://substack.com/@lynnrankinesquer
Visit her at http://lynnrankin-esquer.com/ and https://twitter.com/LRankinEsquer
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 27, 2023
As the writer of this book I have to say I miss spending time with all these characters! Here's a description:
Mrs. Mango has been married to her second choice for forty-two years, mindlessly trudging through her mundane life—except when she's dreaming of the fancy wedding she'll throw for still-single daughter Christine, or when she allows herself a half-hour locked in the bathroom to write tragic letters to her first love, Raul.
When Christine announces at Thanksgiving dinner that she is gay and her friend Sarah is actually her girlfriend, disapproving Mrs. Mango is shaken to her core. Off kilter from her daughter’s perceived betrayal, Mrs. Mango’s quiet life tilts into a bewildering series of crazy happenings involving her husband, four grown children, dogs, cats, nosy neighbors, octogenarians, babies, random strangers and even a shaman.
As family strife builds, Mrs. Mango is forced to confront her rigid world view, the secret she herself has hidden for almost fifty years, and the cause of a painful rift with her own mother. In the process, she discovers that what she thought she knew about love (and sex, definitely sex) was all wrong.
The perfect book club pick.
Mrs. Mango has been married to her second choice for forty-two years, mindlessly trudging through her mundane life—except when she's dreaming of the fancy wedding she'll throw for still-single daughter Christine, or when she allows herself a half-hour locked in the bathroom to write tragic letters to her first love, Raul.
When Christine announces at Thanksgiving dinner that she is gay and her friend Sarah is actually her girlfriend, disapproving Mrs. Mango is shaken to her core. Off kilter from her daughter’s perceived betrayal, Mrs. Mango’s quiet life tilts into a bewildering series of crazy happenings involving her husband, four grown children, dogs, cats, nosy neighbors, octogenarians, babies, random strangers and even a shaman.
As family strife builds, Mrs. Mango is forced to confront her rigid world view, the secret she herself has hidden for almost fifty years, and the cause of a painful rift with her own mother. In the process, she discovers that what she thought she knew about love (and sex, definitely sex) was all wrong.
The perfect book club pick.
September 22, 2020
Captures your heart and reels you in!
This sweet story sets up a situation that accurately reflects just how complicated life and family can be. Never is life what it seems from the “outside” - especially to those not in the circle but even more so, those on the “inside” of the circle can also have misperceptions about the ones they love the most. The author expertly wove a charming story describing how assumptions, passions and fears, if not expressed as a way to protect our hearts, can tie us down and prevent us from seeing and living the life that we deserve. The characters are so endearing, and it is a gift to join them on their journey as they seek to become “unmoored.”
This sweet story sets up a situation that accurately reflects just how complicated life and family can be. Never is life what it seems from the “outside” - especially to those not in the circle but even more so, those on the “inside” of the circle can also have misperceptions about the ones they love the most. The author expertly wove a charming story describing how assumptions, passions and fears, if not expressed as a way to protect our hearts, can tie us down and prevent us from seeing and living the life that we deserve. The characters are so endearing, and it is a gift to join them on their journey as they seek to become “unmoored.”
May 4, 2023
Funny, sad, amazing, great book
I fell in love with Mrs. Mango In the 1st paragraph of this book. And laughed and cried and was amazed all the way through. Thank you Lynn Rankin-Esquer for building a wonderful world for me to enjoy. I understand that she is starting a mystery series next and I can't wait to read it.
I fell in love with Mrs. Mango In the 1st paragraph of this book. And laughed and cried and was amazed all the way through. Thank you Lynn Rankin-Esquer for building a wonderful world for me to enjoy. I understand that she is starting a mystery series next and I can't wait to read it.
January 20, 2021
Some of the characters were a bit hard to like, but by the end, they had redeemed themselves. I love family dramas (with some humor mixed in) and this was a fun one. Written by a local acquaintance, I think Lynn should keep at it!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews