Description of A Mother's Life

It’s the year 1926 and Helene, a 19-year-old mother of two living in Maine, leaves her alcoholic, abusive husband, and spends the next decade discovering new-found strength as she faces the challenges of being a single mother as the Great Depression and World War II loom.

After a final, vicious assault by her husband, Helene flees with her two daughters to her parents’ house, vowing never to return–a courageous act, unimaginable in her small town in Maine in the 1920s. That first morning, she knew things wouldn’t be easy, but she never imagined her wealthy in-laws would snatch custody of her older daughter, or that her own parents would pressure her to submit to such an action. The Great Depression soon falls on New England like a bitter winter storm, making life a struggle for all including Helene, her family and even her well-to-do in-laws.

Helene realizes only she can keep her family together. Against the odds, she moves from Maine to Boston, 100 miles to the south, alone at first, in hopes of finding new opportunities and establishing a good, loving home. The hard times make it nearly impossible for anyone to find work, let alone a single mother in her 20s who is Catholic and of French Canadian descent. She marches on after hearing the new president say on the radio “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Her path is tortuous, and painful choices must be made. Does she accept the good paying job as a live-in governess that will require her to be temporarily separated from her daughters? Still, she stays the course, for the sake of her petits anges, her little angels.