Susan Rieger’s third novel is divided into three sections. Each focuses on one of three generations of Pereira women. Zelda Pereira is married to Aldo, a Sephardic Jew who is verbally and physically abusive to his wife and children. Aldo commits Zelda to a mental institution and tells his children that she died there. His family is not sure he is telling the truth. Lila is the youngest of Zelda and Aldo’s three children. She was the recipient of most of Aldo’s abuse. She marries into a wealthy Jewish family, has a loving husband and becomes a successful editor of a DC newspaper. Her youngest daughter, Grace, has a love/hate relationship with her mother, and feels obligated to find out what really happened to Zelda.

For me, Like Mother, Like Mother is the perfect airplane read. It has interesting characters, an engaging plot, some clever dialogue without a lot to discuss or think about. It is what it is.