“Priya Lalvani has curated a gift—a critical carnival of stories. In Constructing the (M)other we meet women weaving lives that blend joy and imagination, battling the ideological syrup of pity/grief/loss, seeking spaces for full recognition of complex, gorgeous, and sometimes struggling children, in a society drunk on fantasies of normal. Lalvani is a brilliant writer who holds together this book where soul-ful and truths-ful women across race/ethnicity/class/language/education/nations, and children with a sparkling range of abilities and needs, animate the pages. This volume is a mirror, a speak back, truth in a post-truth society, a protest, and a celebration. Grab a glass of wine and climb in. I promise you won't want to leave until you get to the most delicious epilogue, that lingers in every cell of my body.”—Michelle Fine, Distinguished Professor of Critical Psychology, Gender/Women's Studies and Urban Education, The Graduate Center, CUNY