Mom lit meets chick lit in The Mommy Tree, an entertaining debut by Margaret Graves. Disarmingly tender, this perfectly pitched novel proves to be as funny as it is wise as it delves into the lives of four very different mothers who meet under an oak tree as they wait for their children after school. There's Missy who has recently become a stay at home mom after a rewarding career in the military-and for once, she feels like a total mess. There's Gina, strong and brave; she juggles with the constant demands of motherhood against her physical limitations after being diagnosed with Multiple...

Contents: Introduction (Robert Hillenbrand); I. METALWORK AND TEXTILES: The Freer Canteen: Jerusalem or Jazira? (Teresa Fitzherbert); Mamluk Textiles (Maria Sardi); The Captivating Power of Textiles (Miriam Ali-de-Unzaga); II. CERAMICS: Unravelling the Enigmatic Fourteenth-Century Mamluk and Mongol Fine Wares: How to Solve the Problem (Rosalind A. Wade Haddon); Crossing Borders: Mudejar Ceramics in Paterna (Anna McSweeney); The Aesthetics of Simulation: Architectural Mimicry on Medieval Ceramic Tabourets (Margaret S. Graves); III. THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT: A Symbolic Khassakiyya: Representations...