Bestselling authors Claire and Mia Fontaine give us a glimpse into their ’round the world adventure with their latest memoir, Have Mother, Will Travel!
Some of you may remember Claire and Mia Fontaine from their bestselling memoir Come Back—an emotional tale of a mother’s fight to save her daughter. The book inspired thousands of readers and changed many lives, and they’re poised to do it again with their latest memoir, Have Mother, Will Travel, which went on sale July 17 .
It’s the story of a madcap, round-the-world journey of two women, each at a crossroads in life—a mid-life mother and a twenty-something daughter—who embark on an adventure that will resonate with women of all ages.
Bestselling cookbook author and Food Network star Ree Drummond called this “a beautiful, funny, poignant, and oh-so-representative peek into how complicated—and how wonderful—a mother-daughter relationship can be….It's about the love between a mother and daughter—a love that, while not always sunshine and daisies, will never end.”
Download the mother-daughter kit to use in your library and view the book trailer. Read on for more information about the book and a Q&A with Claire and Mia Fontaine.
Q: What made you decide to write this book?
Claire and Mia: We wanted to pass on lessons learned that transformed our relationship a second time, celebrate the mother and adult daughter relationship, and share with readers of Come Back how things turned out for Mia.
Q: What was the most powerful lesson you each took away from the trip about yourself and about each other?
Claire: That the depth of the relationship starts with the mother. I found that the degree to which I opened my heart and got really honest and vulnerable with Mia throughout the trip was the degree to which it was returned and the degree to which the relationship deepened.
Mia: That I’m a lot more like my mom than I thought I was, and that she doesn’t have it all together to the degree that I thought she did. Which, contrary to what it may initially seem, made me love and respect her all the more, both for being willing to share that with me, and because it made me see that, you can struggle and succeed at the same time. That even while she’s muddling through uncertainty or insecurity, she’s moving in the direction she wants to go. For myself, I learned that I needed to take my professional and financial future more seriously than I had been, because the years go by and if you don’t decide where you want them to go, you wake up at fifty wondering how you got where you are. 
Q: What did you each learn about the other that surprised you, both on the trip and while writing the book?
Claire: I had no idea that Mia sometimes struggled with comparing herself to other women, over looks or accomplishment, nor how much it distressed her that she did it. I thought she was more confident than she sometimes was.
Mia: I had no idea that before she became a writer my mom very much wanted to become a doctor, or that she chose a college based on where her then-boyfriend was going. My mom’s such a feminist that it never occurred to me that when she was younger she fell prey to the same naïve, fanciful notions of love that so many women do. Also, I’m an only child, and I never knew she regrets not having more children. While writing the book, it was interesting to see, once again, how focused and methodical she can be while structuring and writing because in daily life she’s often off in her own world, which makes the more practical things (like remembering how to find your way back to a hotel, or what conversion rates are) impossible for her to keep track of!
Q: What’s the most important lesson each of you hopes readers will take away from your journey?
Claire: Your relationship with your mother or daughter is a mirror for all of your relationships; it can be either a great source of strength, support, and inspiration or of great pain and regret. So why not make it an intentional relationship? Why not consciously craft the relationship you truly want?
Mia: You’re never too young to start planning your future, and you’re never too old to create a different one for yourself. Also, to really appreciate just how unique and valuable the unconditional love between mothers and daughters can be.
Q: What are you each working on now? Will you write another book together?
Claire: I’m working on a book on a core set of principles and tools that can transform your life and your relationships. Then returning to the historic novel I’d begun researching while I lived in Paris.
Mia: I’m most interested in narrative nonfiction (books along the lines of The Lost City of Z, Devil in the White City, or Seabiscuit) and am beginning the process of researching what I’m pretty sure will become my next book. I can’t say much at this point, but it’s about a little known, but extremely influential, figure in twentieth-century American culture and business.