Book Nook - Rules for Mothers

 Set in the 1980s, Julie Swendsen Young’s Rules for Mothers

 (Greenleaf Book Group; April 14, 2026) is a poignant depiction of the enduring complexities of gender roles, motherhood, and mental health.

Young, a North Dakota native, is now living in Portland, OR where she is a clinical social worker and a citizen lobbyist for early childhood investments and maternal health. Her short fiction and creative nonfiction stories have been published in print and online magazines, including Surging Tide and The Timberline Review. Rules for Mothers is her first novel.

Rules for Mothers is a representation of many women across the decades that can resonate deeply with readers from a variety of backgrounds.