Tria Wen’s intergenerational memoir endeavors to break the cycle of women living for others before themselves, examining how roles like “wife,” “mother,” and “daughter” can keep us from pursuing what makes us feel most alive

Following the death of her mother, Tria Wen breaks apart the careful life she’s built and explodes her seemingly perfect marriage with a love affair. Torn between two lives, she seeks guidance in her mother’s journals and letters going back thirty years, and there, she meets versions of her mother she never knew: a girl who left behind an entire self after immigration, an artist in the role of housewife, and a woman who wanted more time.

This new perspective allows Wen to see her mother not only as her mother but also as a woman with many lives and dreams unfulfilled. As Wen grapples with the legacy of these unrealized dreams and how that legacy has shaped her own life, her grieving transforms into a sweeping and compassionate study of a woman’s relationship between art, intimacy, and caregiving.

Drawing from some of the most intimate pieces of Wen’s and her mother’s journals, All of Us Wildflowers moves back and forth in time, weaving together a rich tapestry of love, longing, and loss that asks: Where does a mother’s story end and a daughter’s begin? With tender and lyrical prose, and unflinching honesty, Wen’s memoir is a deeply felt meditation on sacrifice, faith, and personal fulfillment.