In this profound and darkly funny collection of essays， Jyl Lynn Felman explores the bittersweet experience of growing up the youngest of three girls in a Jewish American family in Dayton， Ohio. In a family unable to speak about feelings， the Felman sisters found their own ways to break through the silence and rigidity of their parents religious beliefs and to vie for their mother s attention and love. As an adult， Felman reckons with her grief over her mother s suffering and eventual death from Parkinson s disease and its destruction of the family. Throughout， she writes of her own cravings in the sensual experience of her childhood—the taste of her mother s cooking， the feel of her touch， and how these memories have driven her adult life. "The loss of a mother is one of the most profound tragedies a daughter will face. Jyl Lynn Felman explores this territory with remarkable bravery. A stunning memoir.…Cravings is beautifully written and painfully honest. After turning the final page， I was hungry for more." —Hope Edelman， author of Motherless Daughters "With her sharp-eyed sensibility and spare， distinctive prose， Felman is always revealing." —Adrienne Rich