The strong but flawed women of Mothers, Tell Your Daughters love and betray one another; their richly fraught relationships can act as anchors, lifelines, or deadly poison. Bonnie Jo Campbell's working-class protagonists are at once vulnerable, wise, cruel, and funny, and they are always getting into or out of trouble.

In My Dog Roscoe, a new bride becomes obsessed with the notion that her dead ex-boyfriend has returned to her in the form of a mongrel. In Blood Work, 1999, a phlebotomist's desire to give away everything to the needy awakens her own sensuality. In Home to Die, an abused woman takes revenge on her bedridden husband. In these fearless and darkly funny tales about women and those they love, Campbell has created characters that will capture the hearts and minds of her readers.