A young woman realizes her mom was right after all

In her third memoir, Kelly Corrigan turns the spotlight on her no-nonsense, unyielding mother, a woman who’s never been wrong, particularly with her take on their family’s dynamic: “Your father’s the glitter but I’m the glue.” It’s only when Corrigan is in her early 20s that she begins to appreciate her mother’s strength, as she documents in her book with wit, spark and insight. The lessons come midway through around-the-world travels, when she finds work in Australia as a nanny for a recent widower and his two children. Witnessing the devastation of the family’s loss, she realizes how essential a mother’s glue truly is. As she connects with the children in her care — winning over a prickly seven-year-old and giving the girl’s little brother the love he’s desperate for — she begins to understand her own mother for the very first time.

Glitter & Glue, Kelly Corrigan, $30.