Hi, I'm Linda Holmes, and this is NPR's Book of the Day.

We spend a lot of time talking about why families say the things they do to each other.

Hurtful things, difficult things, upsetting things.

But what makes a mother stop saying anything at all to her daughter?

Jeannie Manasco's memoir, A Silent Treatment, is about the period her mother

spent living in the basement apartment of her home, and the fact that at times she just

stopped communicating at all. Sometimes it was for shorter periods, but once it was for six months,

it was hard, it was painful, it wasn't always even clear what set it off. Vanasko told NPR's

Scott Simon about what she learned from living with her mother and how she came to understand

this pattern not as a punishment, but as her mom's way of coping with the world and with her own pain.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

My mutual agreement and with some excitement,

Jeannie Vanasko's mother Barbara moved into the renovated basement apartment of her daughter's home in Baltimore,

then began to treat Jeannie with silence.

Signs she's avoiding or preparing to avoid me.

I opened the door off my dining room, call down,

Mom? And she doesn't answer.

Even though I heard her moving around moments ago.

She texts two-letter replies such as

...