Palko undertakes a comparative transnational reading to develop literary models of good mothering. She argues that Irish and Caribbean literary representations of non-normative mothering practices do not reflect dangerous mothering but are rather cultural negotiations of the definition of a good mother. This book demonstrates the commitment to countering the dominant ideologies of maternal self-sacrifice foundational to both Irish and Caribbean nationalist rhetoric, offering instead the possibility of integrating maternal agency into an effective model of female citizenship.