The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin was the pick for the first Wonderland Books Memoir Book Club. It’s the story of Lara Love Hardin, a mother of four living in an affluent Northern California suburb. who hid a drug addiction from her family and neighbors. To pay for her habit, she stole from people around her, using neighbors’ credit cards and taking money from people’s houses. When she and her husband were eventually caught, they went to prison and ultimately faced thirty-two felony charges. Hardin’s memoir covers her plea deal, her time in prison and her ultimate rehabilitation and recovery, including her midlife career shift to ghostwriter and author. There were parts of this book that I liked more than others, including the sections detailing prison life and the confusing time post-release when Hardin had to meet impossible probation and drug testing requirements all while trying to find a job and provide a stable home for her son. That part was the most harrowing. I was less convinced by Hardin’s remorse for her crimes and for the ways she failed her sons, however. It seemed like she spent more time feeling victimized and shunned by the people in her former life than she did on understanding how her actions hurt other people. All in all, The Many Lives of Mama Love was an interesting and engaging read, though, and it gave me a lot of insight into life in prison and beyond.