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

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It’s incredibly frustrating to not be able to understand what I love so much about her writing, since I want give a review that does this special and unique book justice. Written with heart, and a little humour, it really is a great insight into that most precious and complicated of dynamics - parenting. Because I became a mother at 25, which is to say, quite a lot younger than present culture might show as average, I’ve never seen my particular experience in contemporary writing. Although the pleasure of browsing this beautiful independent boutique was marred slightly by the sordid aeroplane outfit I was wearing, I justified the cost of what I came out with – which, if I were still a fashion journalist, I would describe as “elevated basics” – on the grounds of this being an emergency. SORROW AND BLISSweaves together the everyday with moments of profound sadness, all with razor-sharp wit and a canny dark sense of humour.

After relocating to Sydney, she began writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, Russh, the British Medical Journal, Cosmopolitan and GQ. I loved to read about Brigitta and her continual calamities, only made worse by the reliance on her mother’s black Amex and bossy older sister Polly.Behind her in London is all that’s left of her family: her self-destructive mother and the depressing former council flat they shared. This debut novel from Meg Mason is a highly enjoyable read that shows the promise of what was to come with Sorrow and Bliss (my 2020 book of the year). So when Abi meets Stu and falls in love, and a surprise pregnancy results in her moving to his native Australia, she dives headfirst.

This book solidified my love for Meg Mason’s writing style and character building and put her as one of my favourite authors! Here is the best I can do: euphoric, devastating, angrily beautiful, a deeply releasing new track, from Dance Fever , which I have listened to at least 7,000 times so far today. So I'm not sure that these novels live up to the hype for me, an okay read that leaves me feeling a bit flat.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. 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. It has been given a new UK/Europe publication date of 2 September 2021, so though it’s no longer available on Kindle Unlimited, it will be more widely available soon.

This made the first part of the book feel a little repetitive to me, as it’s mainly about Abi and Jude meeting with Phil. She “adopted it as a matter of survival when she started at a girls’ grammar on the other side of the river”. But Stu’s mum Elaine is suspicious and cold and Stu is overwhelmed, retreating into the excuse of study.I picked this up for free on Kindle Unlimited, after reading (and loving) Sorrow and Bliss by the same author earlier this year. It took me a while to get into this book and I wasn’t entirely sure if I wanted to keep going with it but I’m glad that I did.

Soon Abi and Phil strike up an unusual friendship, each filling a need in the other– Phil serving as a mother substitute for Abi, and Abi and Jude seamlessly slipping into the gap Phil’s children have left behind. It is during one of those walks that she stumbles across the Cremorne ocean pool, and meets Phyllida Woolnough, who turns out to be her neighbour, living in a stately home next door to the apartment block. except that it's set upon lies after lies that quickly grow out of proportions, in what is one of the most amusing readings of the year. An in-depth study of character, a storyline that trudges along but does have its (heartwrenching) moments, and a sweet main character that got done dirty by nearly all, especially the Woolnoughs and ESPECIALLY Polly, whom I couldn‘t stand one bit. We also created our own extended “family” from older friends who filled the grandparent gap for my children.

It was so close to being a 5 star read but I can't give it full marks as a couple of plot twists at the very end didn't ring true to the characters that I had come to love. This all contributed to really poor decision making and falling for to the world's shittiest boyfriend (not kidding) and getting pregnant accidentally. Her other children are minor characters, but play their roles nicely as the bossy one and the naughty one. This novel is hilarious, heartfelt, touching, saddening and infuriating (this one is for the Brush).