You Be Mother: The debut novel from the author of Sorrow and Bliss

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What do you do, when you find the perfect family, and it's not yours? A charming, funny and irresistible novel about families, friendship and tiny little white lies.

I haven’t cried while reading a novel in a very long time and this just took me straight to a place within that I never knew was there. SORROW AND BLISS is a brilliantly faceted and extremely funny book about depression that engulfed me in the way I'm always hoping to be to be engulfed by novels. While I was reading it, I was making a list of all the people I wanted to send it to, until I realised that I wanted to send it to everyone I know." ANN PATCHETT Abi embodies a new generation moving beyond these outdated cultural norms, while still nodding towards the struggles faced by those born into disadvantage – and the millennial gentrification of once working class urban areas. At its core, this book transcends class by exposing the often-times lonely, under sung role of mothers. Mason’s book, is, all told, a love letter to motherhood in all its complexity. An impressive debut novel that finds the biggest drama in the smallest of actions.Thank you to Netgalley and HaperCollins Australia for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review. Abi is a Social Work undergraduate, working part-time in Student Services to help out with the stretched family finances, when she falls pregnant to larger-than-life Australian architecture student Stu. They decide to make a go of it and Abi travels to Sydney with newborn Jude, where the small family is set up in Stu's parents' tiny investment property flat in Cremorne Point, next door to the Woolnough house. Meeting at the local swimming pool, recently widowed Phil (Phyllida) Woolnough is charmed by the lonely, jittery young British mum, and decides to take her under her capable wing. At first the need seems to come almost entirely from Abi's side - alone with her baby more than she should be, while Stu works at the local pub and continues his studies - but after a minor fall Phil comes to rely more and more on Abi for help and company. The relationship between the two women grows stronger and more equal, until a transgression threatens to destroy it. I kept thinking that this book would make a fantastic movie! You Be Mother was hard to put down and I truly didn’t want it to end. An endearing and wonderful read. 💕 Abi, the main character, has had a tough upbringing. Enduring tragic loss in her childhood, and her mother’s spiral into a catatonic, depressive state, all Abi has ever wanted is a family. So when Abi meets Stu and falls in love, and a surprise pregnancy results in her moving to his native Australia, she dives headfirst. There, as a lonely young mother, she meets Phil, an older lady who has raised her own family but is mired in grief following the death of her husband. The two embark on an unlikely friendship that takes unexpected twists and turns.

Sharp yet humane, andjaw-droppingly funny, this isthe kind of novel you will want to press into the hands of everyone you know. Mason has an extraordinary talent for dialogue and character, and her understanding of how much poignancy a reader can take is profound.A masterclasson family,damage and the bonds of love:as soon as I finishedit, Istarted again.” JESSIE BURTON, author of THE MINIATURIST Born in New Zealand, writer Meg Mason began her career at the Financial Times in London before switching to The Times to write on lifestyle, parenting and humour. After relocating to Sydney, she began writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, Russh, the British Medical Journal, Cosmopolitan and GQ. She now writes regular features and the popular ‘Mum vs. World’ column for Sunday magazine. She lives in Sydney with her husband and two daughters. Fans of Elizabeth Day’s How to Fail would have listened to her new podcast and loved it anyway. It is just a bonus that this series of candid conversations between Day and her best friend, the therapist Emma Reed Turrell, on topics such as impostor syndrome, boundaries, and competitiveness is fascinating and research-based but also practical. I plan to make listening to the episode about special occasions, and why they can be so challenging, a Christmas tradition. 4. Shop Abi has landed in Sydney with her three-week old son in tow and no idea what the future holds. Behind her in London is all that’s left of her family: her self-destructive mother and the depressing former council flat they shared. Her baby’s father, Stu – an Aussie architecture student who swept into her life during his few months as an exchange student – is woefully unprepared for fatherhood. His officious mother Elaine is terrifyingly judgemental. And although Stu’s father, Roger, is shaping up to be a quiet ally, it’s not until Abi meets the well-to-do, charming and high-handed Phyllida that things improve. As Phil and Abi grow closer, it seems like the older woman is the mother figure Abi longs for.

Whilst Stu finds it difficult to accept his fatherly responsibilities & quite frankly, acts like a total prat (easily aided by his doting mother, Elaine), Abi takes herself off to the local pool with her now born son, Jude. There she meets Phil, a widow whose adult children have all moved away. Together, they fill the holes in each other’s lives. Evocative and hopeful, this book changes our perception of break-ups and interpersonal relationships.” BOOK RIOT I did not want this book to end. If I didn’t have to work I have no doubt I would have finished it much sooner.