Motherhood and Mother/Daughter Relationships

The author uses this theme to explore the challenges of mother/daughter relationships, focusing in particular on the tension that often develops between girls and their mothers during adolescence. In the title story, “Milk Blood Heat,” there is an obvious rift between Ava and her mother that seems to be caused by a combination of ordinary teenage angst and the fact that her best friend, Kiera, has parents that are much more permissive. Ava fails to grasp that her mother is strict because she knows that her daughter will be judged more harshly by the world because she is Black. The author makes this clear through small details, such as Ava's mother remarking on her unkempt state when she picks her up from Kiera's house. At the end of the story, however, as Ava is mired in grief at the loss of...