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Back The Mother Next Door
Chapters (84)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. About the Author
  5. HALLOWEEN
  6. Seven Weeks Before Halloween
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. HALLOWEEN
  11. Six Weeks Before Halloween
  12. FOUR
  13. FIVE
  14. SIX
  15. HALLOWEEN
  16. Five Weeks Before Halloween
  17. SEVEN
  18. EIGHT
  19. HALLOWEEN
  20. NINE
  21. TEN
  22. HALLOWEEN
  23. ELEVEN
  24. TWELVE
  25. Twenty-Five Days Until Halloween
  26. THIRTEEN
  27. FOURTEEN
  28. HALLOWEEN
  29. FIFTEEN
  30. SIXTEEN
  31. SEVENTEEN
  32. EIGHTEEN
  33. NINETEEN
  34. TWENTY
  35. HALLOWEEN
  36. Eighteen Days Until Halloween
  37. TWENTY-ONE
  38. TWENTY-TWO
  39. HALLOWEEN
  40. TWENTY-THREE
  41. TWENTY-FOUR
  42. Eleven Days Until Halloween
  43. TWENTY-FIVE
  44. TWENTY-SIX
  45. Eight Days Until Halloween
  46. TWENTY-SEVEN
  47. TWENTY-EIGHT
  48. TWENTY-NINE
  49. HALLOWEEN
  50. THIRTY
  51. Four Days Until Halloween
  52. THIRTY-ONE
  53. HALLOWEEN
  54. THIRTY-TWO
  55. Two Days Until Halloween
  56. THIRTY-THREE
  57. The Night Before Halloween
  58. THIRTY-FOUR
  59. HALLOWEEN
  60. THIRTY-FIVE
  61. Halloween, Present Day
  62. THIRTY-SIX
  63. THIRTY-SEVEN
  64. HALLOWEEN
  65. THIRTY-EIGHT
  66. HALLOWEEN
  67. THIRTY-NINE
  68. HALLOWEEN
  69. FORTY
  70. HALLOWEEN
  71. FORTY-ONE
  72. FORTY-TWO
  73. FORTY-THREE
  74. FORTY-FOUR
  75. HALLOWEEN... NOW
  76. FORTY-FIVE
  77. Seven Months Later
  78. FORTY-SIX
  79. FORTY-SEVEN
  80. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  81. ALICE SWANSON’S
  82. Reader's Guide
  83. Questions for Discussion
  84. Booklist

This book is about friendship, and I’m fortunate to have a posse of women I’d totally cover up a crime for anytime—my dear friends, new and old, you know who you are. I also have the best beta readers in the universe—April Kaminski, Bernadette Murphy, Art Taylor, and Brandon Wicks. Your input made this book a hell of a lot better, and I owe you lifetime supplies of tacos and coffee.

I wrote this book during the pandemic, and so I need to give the biggest shout-out to my husband and son, who put up with me for an entire year without killing me (yet). Thank you, Art, for understanding when I said, for the 456th time, “I need to go write,” and dealing with my weird obsession with Murder, She Wrote. Our son, Dash, has been patient and wise through this whole process. His best advice after a particularly hard day of editing was telling me to imagine a tennis ball was my book and “smash it really hard.” I wouldn’t have been able to get through this weird time without you two.

Finally, thank you to the moms in the world. The fixers, the helpers, the consolers. When the sky tears completely in two, they’re the ones who stitch it back together.

ALICE SWANSON’S

TOTALLY SPOOKTACULAR IVY FIVE HALLOWEEN BLOCK PARTY PLAYLIST

“Season of the Witch” – Lana Del Rey

“Straight to Hell” – LVCRFT, Sabrina Spellman

“I Did Something Bad” – Taylor Swift

“Hell on Heels” – Pistol Annies

“Wannabe” – Spice Girls

“Psycho Killer” – Talking Heads

“Dollhouse” – Melanie Martinez

“Bad Things” – Jace Everett

“Disturbia” – Rihanna

“Superstition” – Stevie Wonder

“Bury a Friend” – Billie Eilish

“That’s What Friends Are For” – Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder

Reader's Guide

The
Mother
Next Door

Tara Laskowski

Reader’s Guide

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Questions for Discussion

Questions for Discussion