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SPRINGVILLE — A lot of mothers can probably identify with Alison Andrews, the protagonist in Carol Lynn Pearson's latest work, "The Runaway Mother."
"The Runaway Mother" is the latest from Carol Lynn Pearson.
Adapted from her 1997 book, "Morning Glory Mother," Pearson's Alison is a stressed-out single mom who blames herself for her failed marriage, her out-of-control teenage son and 11-year-old daughter and for not measuring up to her neighbor, a seemingly "perfect" mother, Martha Harris. Guilt reigns in Alison's life.
"Morning Glory Mother," published by St. Martin's Press and now out of print, was written for a general audience, Pearson said, which she "Mormonized" into "The Runaway Mother" as a cleverly humorous book for the LDS audience timed for release before Mother's Day. Cedar Fort Inc. is the publisher.
"Mormon women need to laugh as much as anyone I know," she said.
Alison's stress mounts when she comes home one evening to find that her children have not obeyed her and have gone to bed leaving a mess in the kitchen. So she takes an old cowbell reserved for the children to keep by their bed when they are sick, marches into the bedrooms of the sleeping siblings and rings it.
"I did that," Pearson confessed, acknowledging she mixes real life events with fiction.
The last straw in Alison's life comes when she learns that her children have been bribed to appear in the ward Mother's Day celebration the Saturday before Mother's Day, which honors Harris as "Sister Celestial." The children have to make sure their mothers are there.
So Alison takes steps to make sure she's not there. She runs.
A quick read — it's only 71 pages — the story reveals that Alison is really a better mother than she thinks, while her children surprise her with their moxie, and Martha Harris isn't really all that perfect.
Carol Lynn Pearson
"When we scratch under the surface we find that we all have our own challenges," she said.
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'Runaway Mother' Funny, Heartfelt