Family estrangement is on the rise. Various bills are pending around the country to address the problem of parental alienation syndrome (PAS), which can lead to certain rifts between parents and children. Dozens of non-fiction books have been published about the phenomenon. But not since Anna Karenina has a work of fiction dealt so squarely and deftly with the subject until Fran Hawthorne’s Her Daughter.
Leading experts define PAS as a “mental condition in which a child — usually one whose parents are engaged in a high-conflict separation or divorce — allies himself or herself strongly with an alienating parent and rejects a relationship with the ‘target’ parent without legitimate justification.”
