The Many Lives of Mama Love (Oprah's Book Club): A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing

Written by Lara Love Hardin

Narrated by Lara Love Hardin

“Once you start reading, be prepared, because you won’t want to stop.” —Oprah Winfrey

OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • New York Times bestselling author Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter in this harrowing, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir.

No one expects the police to knock on the door of the million-dollar two-story home of the perfect cul-de-sac housewife. But soccer mom Lara Love Hardin has been hiding a shady secret: she is funding her heroin addiction by stealing her neighbors’ credit cards.

Lara is convicted of thirty-two felonies and becomes inmate S32179. She finds that jail is a class system with a power structure that is somewhere between an adolescent sleepover party and Lord of the Flies. Furniture is made from tampon boxes, and Snickers bars are currency. But Lara quickly learns the rules and brings love and healing to her fellow inmates as she climbs the social ladder and acquires the nickname “Mama Love,” showing that jailhouse politics aren’t that different from the PTA meetings she used to attend.

When she’s released, she reinvents herself as a ghostwriter. Now, she’s legally co-opting other people’s identities and getting to meet Oprah, meditate with the Dalai Lama, and have dinner with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But the shadow of her past follows her. Shame is a poison worse than heroin—there is no way to detox. Lara must learn how to forgive herself and others, navigate life as a felon on probation, and prove to herself that she is more good than bad, among other essential lessons.

The Many Lives of Mama Love is a heartbreaking and tender journey from shame to redemption, despite a system that makes it almost impossible for us to move beyond the worst thing we have ever done.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Aug 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781797164694

Lara Love Hardin

Lara Love Hardin is a literary agent, author, and president of True Literary. Prior to founding True Literary, she was the co-CEO of Idea Architects. She has an MFA in creative writing and is a five-time New York Times bestselling collaborative writer, including the #1 bestseller Designing Your Life and the 2018 Oprah’s Book Club pick The Sun Does Shine, which she coauthored with Anthony Ray Hinton. She lives in La Selva Beach, California.  

Reviews for The Many Lives of Mama Love (Oprah's Book Club)

[Dawn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Many Lives of Mama Love is a compelling, addictive read!

[enelson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such an incredible story! It's hard to put down. We'll written!

[dana moulds · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

i don’t know where to begin other than to say The Many Lives of Mama Love was a magnificent, true story about the ebbs & flows of LIFE - uniquely defined by our humanity and embodied through our individual lived experiences. what a rollercoaster of emotions i felt, and literally expressed through my yells and screams, as i listened to Mama Love share her story. i am one who doesn’t believe in coincidences…every good thing and not so good thing[s] were divinely manifested for her arrival, at just the time it was needed in her life. this book has changed me. i’ll read it again, and probably again & again as there is so much to glean from.

[Kayla Smith · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing book!! It is one I automatically want to read again.

[Victoria Aguilar · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just wow! Such a meaningful book of the struggles with addiction to going through all the different the county department systems. Why don’t county depts., talk to each other. Why is there a 2 hour wait to see your Probation Officer? Why the court judges?

[jade · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is astonishing. The first few chapters had me absolutely angry, and I almost stopped listening. I am glad I kept going because the ending is an absolute redemption. Wow. How much a single person can change. It's a fabulous reminder that we are not our past... instead, we are who we choose to identify as, for some that is their past, for others its the hope of a new & never before lived life. It's possible!

[Debbie Singer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful, honest , heartbreaking andheartwarming. An incredibly important book about substance use disorders, our terrible incarceration system. A triumph of human dignity and spirit

[Shelby Delynn Rudolph · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very compelling story! This books has a wonderful flow to it. No lulls. Loved it!

[carol thomas · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book grabbed me from the get go. An amazing story of addiction and redemption. Beautifully written with honesty, pathos, empathy & insight. Laura's narration is heartfelt and a window into her soul. You can't help but pull for her, incur disappointment when she backslides and then admire how she overcomes incredible obstacles to rebuild her life and relationships. I have recommended this book to several people as a must read!

[Tracy Gallo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I great book. She really describes how addiction can take over your entire life and change you as a person.

[therese bennett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely fantastic. This is a powerful and beautifully told story about mistakes and redemption, family and forgiveness.

[joellen emmerick · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved Lara’s writing!
Thank you! Enjoy her journey Everyone!