Description

Longlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize
A New York Times Notable Book
A Library Journal Best Book of 2021 A marvelous…superbly effective (The New Yorker) debut novel about a young woman coming of age with a dazzling yet damaged mother who lived and loved in extremes. Met by rave reviews in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and more, this stunning translation of Violaine Huisman s witty, immersive autofiction showcases a Parisian childhood with a charismatic, depressed parent (Oprah Daily). Beautiful and magnetic, Catherine, a.k.a. Maman, smokes too much, drives too fast, laughs too hard, and loves too extravagantly, and her daughter Violaine wouldn t have it any other way. But when Maman is hospitalized after a third divorce and a breakdown, everything changes. Even as Violaine and her sister long for their mother s return, once she s back Maman s violent mood swings and flagrant disregard for personal boundaries soon turn their home into an emotional landmine. As the story of Catherine s own traumatic childhood and adolescence unfolds, the pieces come together to form an indelible portrait of a mother as irresistible as she is impossible, as triumphant as she is transgressive. With spectacular ferocity of language, a streak of dark humor, and stunning emotional bravery, The Book of Mother is an exquisitely wrought story of a mother s dizzying heights and devastating lows, and a daughter who must hold her memory close in order to surrender, and finally move on.