Book_Recommendation: The Power of Parting

If you’ve already made the decision to step back from a parent or family member and need someone to meet you on the other side of that choice, this book will speak to you.

In The Power of Parting, longtime book editor Eamon Dolan draws on his own experience as a survivor of his mother’s abuse, alongside research and interviews with other estranged adult children, to argue that estrangement can be a healthy, deliberate response to harm rather than a personal failure. He pushes back on the cultural script that says we owe our parents a relationship regardless of what happened inside it.

Dolan does spend time asking whether you tried hard enough. He knows that you have, and writes for the person who is ready to stop apologizing for protecting themselves. Dolan’s stance is firm, which can feel like a relief after years of cultural pressure to reconcile. It can also feel jarring if you are still actively weighing the decision or holding out hope for repair. The Power of Parting is for the moving-forward stage.