In "Mama Left Me," author and educator Carol Ingram Moore explores the thorny emotional and psychological terrain traveled by children being raised by their grandparents and other relatives.

Told from multiple points of view, the story centers on the Walker family: Pearl, a successful artist who abandons her daughter; Natalie, the daughter left in the care of her grandmother; and Ellen, the retired schoolteacher charged with looking after Natalie.

Ellen and Natalie must find ways to reconcile themselves to the new reality thrust upon them by Pearl. Thankfully, Uncle Robert, church...