If you're not a particular young boy named Michael or his half-sister, Elizabeth, you can go ahead and read Katherine Anne Kindred's first book -- but know that this motherhood memoir is not really for you. It's for Michael and Elizabeth, two children to whom Kindred is not related by blood or by law but for whom she was a mother for six of their formative years. And then, rather suddenly, she was not.

The back story Kindred shares is a complicated one, but it can be summarized simply: Kindred, who did not have children, fell in love with a man named Jim, who did. Jim had recently assumed part-time custody of his 2-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, and full-time custody of a 4-year-old son, Michael, whom he had just met. Though she rightly pleads naiveté to understanding the realities of parenting, and their long-term consequences for children, Kindred is certainly wise to what they mean from her perspective: "Now the concept of marital ties pales in comparison with the responsibilities faced in becoming enmeshed in the lives of these children."

She falls in love with the children, particularly with Michael, who is "in dire need of a mother." Within a couple of years, she is asking Jim if she can adopt Michael so that, if they ever break up, she will have rights as Michael's legal mother. Unfortunately, that paperwork never gets completed.

After the breakup and deep in mourning over the "death of motherhood," Kindred begins keeping a "journal of letters" -- "although I know his father will not give him my letters, I decide that will not stop me from writing them" -- of which "An Accidental Mother" is a part. With some minor revisions, the book could have been packaged as a gift book for store impulse-buy sections. Artwork Michael made for Kindred separates the years in the book, and under each year, Kindred tells short (one paragraph to five pages) stories about her navigation of topics such as God, lying, deaths of pets and other things of a kids-say-the-darnedest-things ilk.

Soft-hearted parents will enjoy this book, and children should keep it in mind for Mother's Day shopping. In a world like ours, where women have more life choices and the word "family" has more accepted definitions, there are probably quite a few others in Kindred's situation. They will appreciate the bittersweet comfort she provides within these pages.

Kindred no longer has any contact with Michael and Elizabeth, but it's likely they will become aware of the book she has written. Someday, surely, they will appreciate it, a polished scrapbook of their sweetest moments, as well as the tougher times, and a testament of Kindred's unwavering love.

  • Kristin Thiel's short fiction is in "Men Undressed: Women Writers on the Male Sexual Experience," out this month from Other Voices Books/Dzanc Books.