Description
About the Author\n\nKimberly Stuart holds degrees from St. Olaf College and the University of Iowa. After teaching Spanish and English as a second language in Chicago, Minneapolis, Costa Rica, and eastern Iowa, she took a huge increase in pay to be a full-time mom. She makes her home in Des Moines, Iowa, with her husband and two young children.\n\nProduct Description\n\nAn earth-conscious, yoga-practicing twenty-something is forced to face her estranged relationship with her mother in this comic yet poignant novel about moms and daughters.\n\nMia Rathbun is an overworked and underpaid Chicago social worker who belongs to PETA and recycles the tops of pizza boxes. Her boyfriend, Lars, is a free-spirited freelance writer (read: mooch) who disdains the conventions of marriage but is happy to build a life with Mia. That is until Mia becomes pregnant.\n\nLeft on her own, Mia just begins to accustom herself to the looming prospect of single parenthood when her mother, Babs, shows up to help. The two have an estranged relationship but are forced to acknowledge their connection as Mias belly grows and she has few other options. The story is told with Stuarts characteristic irreverent and authentic humor with healthy doses of poignancy and grace.\n\nFrom the Back Cover\n\nMia is a granola-eating, sensible shoewearing, carbon footprintconscious twenty-something living in a multicultural neighborhood in Chicago. Her mother, Babs, is a stiletto-wearing Zsa Zsa Gabor type who works as an activities hostess on a Caribbean cruise line and if you guessed theres some tension there, youd be right. Factor in an unexpected pregnancy and Mias idealistic boyfriendLars is such a visionary he doesnt believe in the institution of marriageand the mother-daughter relationship is, well, stretched very thin. As is Mias sanity when Babs shows up to help.\n\nActually, Mia has a whole neighborhood of quirky characters who want to help, including her BFF Frankie, a magenta-haired librarian; Silas, the courtly gentleman of indeterminate age who lives downstairs; and Adam, proprietor of the corner grocery store where Mia shops. But its Adamendearing, kind, possessed of a perfect smile and impeccable Persian mannerswho ultimately charms Babs and rescues Mia from more than one mother-induced meltdown. Could it be that Mia and Babs might actually be able to get along?\n\nWith Kimberly Stuarts trademark irreverent humor and a surprising and satisfying take on romance, Stretch Marks is an authentic but tender story about family, grace, and the importance of a good grocer.