The Common Thread: Mothers, Daughters, and the Power of Empathy

I found this book to be very enjoyable. The relationship between a mother and daughter is extremely complex and changes through out ones life. She handles each stage masterfully addressing what is going on with each member of this union. Her style, humor, and knowledge make this easy to read. She uses real life examples that makes her descriptions to flow easily. I found the book to be not only heartwarming, but very endearing, in what is often a love-hate relationship in our lives. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to explore the complex nature of a mother/daughter relationship.

Dr. Manning uses literature and her own personal experiences as she explores the mother/daughter relationship from pregnancy to old age. She helps you to understand this sometimes challenging connection. What I like most about Manning's work, is her humor that shines through, particularly when dealing with difficult circumstances. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is a mother or a daughter.

I've always been drawn to works of fiction, not psychology, to try and understand the human psyche. But Martha Manning has won over my heart with her new book, THE COMMON THREAD. Yes, it's a book that delves head-on into numerous psychological issues that are born out of the mother-daughter journey. But she uses literature and stories from her own life to make these issues come alive. Manning is such an exquisite (and breezy) writer that you forget you're reading a serious nonfiction book. I got the same pleasure out of reading THE COMMON THREAD as I do reading a favorite novel. I also have an entirely new understanding of my current realtionship with my mother and a new set of tools for navigating our future together. Thank you Dr. Manning for such this truly special book!

In this astonishing book, Martha Manning really pins down the truth of mother-daughter relationships--how difficult, how tender, how involved they are, how they define whole lives. In prose that is often beautiful, she evokes the intimacy and the struggle that exist between the females of the family, and shows how the generations learn to tolerate what they cannot love in each other. What's especially astonishing is that Manning is able so often to accomplish her purpose with gentle humor--the book keeps you smiling from cover to cover, even when it's describing difficult passages in life. I recommend it unconditionally.