'My Mother's Keeper' is B.D. Hyman's side of the story—an unflinching tell-all that rocked Hollywood. As Davis's daughter, she pulls no punches describing their fraught relationship, from childhood neglect to adult estrangement. What makes it compelling is the duality: you see Davis's brilliance as an actress clash with her flaws as a parent. The book's lasting impact isn't just its scandalous revelations, but how it makes you ponder the costs of greatness. Some days I sympathize with B.D.; other days I wonder if any child can fully understand their parents' battles.
The main character in 'My Mother's Keeper' is B.D. Hyman, Bette Davis's daughter, who penned this memoir. It's a deeply personal and controversial account of her relationship with her legendary mother. The book dives into their tumultuous bond, revealing private struggles and public tensions that many fans found shocking at the time. B.D. doesn't hold back, painting a raw portrait of Davis as a domineering, often cruel figure—a stark contrast to her Hollywood persona.
What fascinates me about this book isn't just the juicy details, but how it reflects the universal complexity of mother-daughter relationships. The way B.D. oscillates between love and resentment feels painfully relatable, even if your mom isn't an Oscar-winning icon. It's less about celebrity gossip and more about how fame magnifies existing family dynamics. The book stays with you long after the last page, making you wonder how much of our parents' legacy we carry—and what we choose to reject.
2026-01-29 07:04:39
6
View All Answers
Scan code to download App
Related Books
A Mommy for Christmas
Anna Kendra
0
6.2K
Arthur Dalton, a billionaire businessman with leading electronic technology in all over New York, is in desperate need for a nanny who can take care of his five year old mischievous daughter, Hayley. Having lost the love of his life at child-birth, he isn’t looking for any kind of romantic relationship until Kathleen Moore shows up at his house and he mistakenly put her in jail for an attempted kidnapping of his daughter.
Kathleen is a delivery girl at her family owned restaurant, but negative her first meeting with Arthur puts them at odd with each other right from the beginning, even though Hayley suddenly develops a fondness towards Kathleen that Arthur had never expected.
Now, he must comply to his daughter’s wishes and hire Kathleen as a nanny, but what happens when the holiday seasons arrive and the close proximity makes Arthur’s heart skip a beat for Kathleen, a heart that he swore he would never give to anyone else? And what happens when his daughter demands that the only thing she wants as a present this Christmas is a new mommy?
After his sister is brutally attacked and crippled investigating the rape of a thirteen-year-old, Richard Baimbridge rushes back to his hometown of Wilmington, NC, to assist in her recovery only to come face to face with his tormented past and a dark family secret. Serving as his sister's legs, he fights to stay above the flood of childhood trauma as he is drawn into the dark underside of this quiet coastal community where he becomes the primary suspect in the murders of Wilmington's young girls in this riveting suspense thriller that explores the special bond between a brother and sister.
More than 500,000 copies sold worldwide.
"Bill Benners is a fresh and welcomed new voice in crime fiction. My Sister's Keeper is a compelling and original psychological thriller. Awesome, powder-keg suspense!"
--Andrew McAleer, Crimestalker Casebook/crimestalkers.com
My mother had a rare disease. After months of dead ends, I found one person in the country who could treat her.
She told me there was a price. She said she needed a husband.
I agreed. For my mother, I agreed. For six years I was her ATM.
I bought her the bags. I bought her the watches.
It got worse. She used my money to keep a kept man. She brought him into our bed. The day my mother had her last surgery, she walked out of the operating room halfway through to go celebrate her lover's birthday.
The moment they pronounced my mother dead, I decided there and then, she was paying for that with her life.
When down-on-her-luck Rennie Brooks accepts a job as a live-in nanny for the daughter of cold, enigmatic billionaire Shawn Wolfe, she believes it’s just another job—and another clingy child—until the little girl looks up at her with wide, innocent eyes and calls her “Mommy”… then begins mirroring her every habit.
The connection is instant. The tension between her and Shawn, undeniable.
Because Shawn isn’t just her new boss—he’s the man from her one unforgettable night eight years ago, the stranger who vanished before dawn, leaving behind nothing but memories and heartbreak.
Rennie swore she’d never fall for him again. But under the same roof, every stolen glance and forbidden touch reignites the desire she thought she’d buried for good.
Her fragile new beginning shatters when Shawn’s glamorous ex-wife suddenly returns, demanding custody of the little girl Rennie has come to love as her own.
Just as she prepares to walk away, a devastating secret surfaces—
Diane isn’t Shawn’s daughter. She’s Rennie’s.
Now Rennie must fight for the child she never knew was hers and face the hardest choice of her life: between the man who broke her heart and the one who might finally mend it.
My father, Henry Carlton, is a genius painter. My mother, Candace Mills, is a world-class dancer.
Dad says Mom is his muse. To marry her, he gives up a family fortune worth hundreds of millions.
Everyone is moved to tears by their beautiful love story.
But on the day I am born, Mom is left paralyzed from childbirth and can never dance again. While taking care of me as I cry day and night, Dad does everything he can to help Mom recover.
One day, he disappears. All he leaves behind is one letter accusing Mom and me of destroying his inspiration. He says we are the ones to blame.
My helpless Mom holds me in her arms as I do nothing but cry. She becomes convinced that if I can become Dad's new muse, he will come back. So, she pushes herself through grueling rehabilitation and devotes everything she has to training me.
When I win the silver medal at a national dance championship, Mom finally sees Dad again.
Dressed in an impeccable suit, he carries himself with the confidence and air of a wealthy man. He has one arm wrapped around one of the competition judges, and the two of them are openly affectionate with each other.
Unable to take the sight of him with another woman, Mom runs out. While chasing after her, I tumble down a flight of stairs.
When I finally limp back home, Mom is waiting for me. She grips a stick tightly with a dark look in her eyes.
"If you can't become a muse, then what good are you?"
After my mom, Margaret Hale, dies of a heart attack, she starts appearing in my sister Claire Dawson's dreams.
In a dream, Mom tells Claire to climb Mount Mistwood before sunrise and burn the entrance ticket for her, or the other ghosts will bully her.
Claire doesn't tell me anything. She packs a bag in the middle of the night and forces herself to the summit.
While she's gasping her way up that mountain, I'm asleep at home when I suddenly go into cardiac arrest. I wake up in the emergency room with doctors shouting over me.
I barely survive before Mom appears in Claire's dreams again.
This time, she says skydiving is her last wish. If Claire doesn't do it for her, she won't rest in peace.
Claire signs up right away, ignoring everything I say. But then, her parachute refuses to open, and she plummets toward the ground. Luckily, she gets snagged in a tree and walks away without a scratch.
Meanwhile, I miss a step going downstairs, tumble to the bottom, end up covered in bruises, and break five ribs.
While I'm recovering in the hospital, Mom shows up in Claire's dreams again.
Now, she wants Claire to go to the South Pole for her, saying she can finally move on and be reincarnated once Claire completes the trip.
Claire doesn't hesitate and books a tour on the spot.
While she's taking pictures with penguins, I freeze to death back home during a 104-degree heatwave.
Only after I die does it finally hit me that Mom's missions for Claire always end with me on death's doorstep.
What I don't understand is how Mom keeps shifting the danger meant for Claire onto me instead.
The next time I open my eyes, I'm back on the morning after Mom first appeared in Claire's dream.
Oh wow, 'My Mother's Keeper' hits hard—it's one of those stories that lingers long after you finish it. The novel follows a young woman named Tara, who returns home after years away to care for her estranged mother, now suffering from early-onset dementia. Their relationship was already fractured, but the illness forces Tara to confront buried resentments and unresolved guilt. The narrative weaves between past and present, revealing how her mother's controlling behavior shaped Tara's life choices, from career setbacks to failed relationships. What really got me was how raw and honest it felt—no sugarcoating the messy, painful parts of caregiving or family bonds.
The book doesn't just focus on the heaviness, though. There are moments of dark humor and unexpected tenderness, like when Tara discovers her mom's old journals and sees her in a new light. It's a story about forgiveness, but not the tidy kind—more like stumbling toward acceptance while carrying all your baggage. The ending left me in tears, but also weirdly hopeful? Like maybe healing isn't about fixing everything, just learning to hold space for the broken pieces.
I picked up 'My Mother's Keeper' out of sheer curiosity about Hollywood's golden age and the complex dynamics between Bette Davis and her daughter. The book is a raw, unfiltered look at their relationship, and it doesn't shy away from the messy, painful parts. What struck me most was how it humanizes Davis—not as the iconic actress, but as a flawed, sometimes difficult mother. The writing isn't polished, but that almost adds to its honesty. It feels like listening to someone vent over coffee, with all the emotional weight you'd expect.
That said, it's not for everyone. If you're looking for a glamorous tell-all, this isn't it. The book dives deep into personal grievances, and some passages feel uncomfortably intimate. But for those interested in the psychological toll of fame or the complexities of parent-child relationships, it's a fascinating, if heavy, read. I found myself thinking about it for days afterward, especially how fame distorts even the most fundamental bonds.
Bette Davis' daughter, B.D. Hyman, wrote 'My Mother's Keeper' as a memoir that peeled back the glamorous facade of Hollywood to reveal the turbulent relationship between her and her legendary mother. The book shocked many readers with its candid portrayal of Davis as a controlling, often cruel figure who struggled with alcoholism and emotional instability. Hyman didn’t shy away from detailing explosive arguments, manipulative behavior, and even instances of physical altercations. What makes it so gripping isn’t just the juicy Hollywood gossip—it’s the raw, unfiltered lens of a daughter grappling with love, resentment, and the weight of growing up in the shadow of an icon.
The backlash was immediate. Davis famously disowned Hyman after its publication, and fans were divided—some saw it as a brave exposé, others as a betrayal. But beneath the scandal, there’s a poignant undercurrent: a child’s desperate need for approval from a parent who couldn’t give it. The book doesn’t paint Davis as a monster, though; it humanizes her in ways even her films never did. It’s a messy, heartbreaking read, but one that lingers because of its honesty. I couldn’t put it down, though I felt guilty for turning the pages at times.