A Community of Motherhood Responds

At the age of 43, Joyce Ostin, an amateur photographer and mother of three daughters, became a survivor of breast cancer for the second time. She had lost her own mother to breast cancer more than a decade ago. As often happens in such situations, friends tell friends and try to be supportive and helpful. And being married to DreamWorks producer Michael Ostin, Joyce Ostin had some pretty famous friends. So when she said she wanted to celebrate her remission by honoring the bond between mothers and daughters in a photography book, these famous friends who told famous friends rallied to the cause. The result is Hollywood Moms: Photographs by Joyce Ostin (Abrams), with an introduction by Carrie Fisher. Ostin is donating all her proceeds from the book to breast cancer research.

Among the famous women who posed with their mothers or their daughters (and in some cases, both) are Debbie Reynolds, Madonna, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, Jennifer Lopez and Sela Ward. All but three images from the book are embargoed until the mid-May pub date—just in time for Mother's Day. From PW's inside peek, we can tell that Ostin makes great use of mostly natural light and relaxed poses to create an enticing array of photographs. (Don't tell anyone, but actress Donna Dixon gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "Earth Mother.")

Media attention is a given for this title, and just in case the initial 75,000 copies are not enough, Abrams is ready to go back to press immediately. Already there is a first serial in InStyle for May; second serial to Good Housekeeping; and the author is booked on the Today show.