𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐨 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞 $𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐨 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲.

Jong-Fast is the only child of a famous woman, writer Erica Jong, whose sensational book Fear of Flying launched her into second-wave feminist stardom. She grew up yearning for a connection with her dreamy, glamorous, just-out-of-reach mother, who always seemed to be heading somewhere that wasn’t with Molly. When, in 2023, Erica was diagnosed with dementia just as Molly’s husband discovered he had a rare cancer, Jong-Fast was catapulted into a transformative year.

How to Lose Your Mother is a compulsively readable memoir about an intense mother–daughter relationship, a sometimes chaotic upbringing with a fame-hungry parent, and the upheavals that challenge our hard-won adulthood. A pitch-perfect balance of acceptance and rage, humor and heart, How to Lose Your Mother tells a universal story of loss alongside a singular story of a literary life. This is a memoir that will stand alongside the classics of the genre.

Molly Jong-Fast is an author, political pundit, and host of the podcast Fast Politics. She has written for The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, and Vanity Fair. She is the author of two novels and two previous memoirs.