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

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It is an incredibly funny novel, and one that’s enlivened, often, by a madcap energy. Yet it still manages to be sensitive and heartfelt, and to offer a nuanced portrayal of what it means to try to make amends and change, even when that involves ‘start[ing] again from nothing.’” THE GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA SORROW AND BLISS is a book you’ll want to devour in one sitting. Meg Mason has written an adult coming-of-age novel, told with force, breathlessness and a confessional style that makes you feel as if you’re sharing intimacies with a close friend. Mason’s writing has been compared to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s for good reason. Martha has a Fleabag-ian wit and obsessive self-reflection, the humour sitting alongside the despair.” THE SATURDAY PAPER

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 Mason pulls off something extraordinary in this huge-hearted novel, alchemising an unbearable anguish into something tender and hilarious and redemptive and wise, without ever undermining its gravity or diminishing its pain…It is impossible to read this novel and not be moved. It is also impossible not to laugh out loud.” THE GUARDIAN This is a story that will settle in the hearts and guts of anyone whose life has been touched by the devastation of not knowing exactly what is wrong, but hoping against hope that there is some way to fix it.” THE SPINOFF, NZWhere can I start? I did wonder if I’d need to rush through this book to begin with but, by the final chapters, I was trying to drag it out and savoured every sentence. Ever since I read "Sorrow and Bliss" I understood that not only Meg Mason was one of my new favorite authors but also that she was one of the greatest, brightest and sharpest writers of this day and age. 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 Befriended by newly widowed next door neighbour Phyllida (or Phil, as she likes to be called), her days have some meaning. Especially when Stu has trouble coming to terms with being a responsible adult and a father. This story line is interspersed with Phil’s own children and their troubles. Like Phoebe Waller-Bridge, to whose work this book will inevitably (but fairly) be compared, Meg Mason has an innate understanding of the comic power of sadness and how humour can be used to mask one’s reality….SORROW AND BLISS shines as a piece of fiction that makes explicit all the joys and afflictions of 21st-century life” BOOKTOPIA

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. This is the second book I’ve read from Meg and I loved it so much. Sorrow and Bliss was also fantastic, but this book moved me to tears. The story is told primarily in short, sharp chapters with names! (I love chapters that have names – these are titled from a quote from a character each time and can be quite funny). It’s definitely worth persevering through the early stages as the second half is wonderfully complex and dramatic with a pinch of fun. Abi is young and a new mother in a city where she knows no one. She handles herself brilliantly against a boyfriend who is absent, working out motherhood and befriending an older neighbour woman she sees as a mother figure. Meg Mason has achieved something remarkable with her debut novel — Sorrow and Bliss is a raucously funny, beautifully written, emotion-bashing book about love, family and life’s curveballs that leaves you, satisfyingly, with what feels like wisdom forged in fire.” THE TIMES

Every character is extremely flawed yet very loveable. There are characters of every age and stage of life. Some have their shit sorted (mostly) and others are clutching at straws and just hanging in there. As we get to know the characters we become invested in many stories and are seeing everyone’s perspectives without an inch of confusion of who is who or what was going on. The loneliness, isolation and grief throughout is heartbreaking but the moments of belonging and healing make up for this. The difference between those characters who have family vs those who desire family creates a real contrast which also tugs on the heart strings quite a bit. But it is a bit of a strange novel. The events in the novel seemed completely unbelievable, especially when Abi returned to London. The story with Stu and his family really didn't add anything to the story; honestly, Stu's decision in the end was just completely out of the blue. Actually, that was the case with all the characters. Completely insufferable until the last few chapters and they all seemed to magically resolve all their issues to live a happy life. All the stars for this affectionate study on mothers and their children (mostly daughters). Abi, of a troubled upbringing, falls pregnant to Stu, Aussie uni student, so they decide to make a go of it in Sydney. New to parenting (weren’t we all), Abi’s only experience is with her hoarder mother; until she meets Stu’s mum - the intimidating and disapproving Elaine ‘She emphasised the E, as though sadly accustomed to people making too short of that improtant first syllable. E-laine. She had a narrow frame, neat bosom, and a coarse, ferociously brushed plume of hair. Its short sides and rounded top put Abi in mind of a toilet brush.’ Mason's bleakly comic [US] debut examines with pitiless clarity the impact of the narrator's mental illness on her closest relationships…Mason brings the reader into a deep understanding of Martha's experience without either condescending to her or letting her off too easily. While we as readers have the luxury of finding her observations funnier than she does, we're not so far distanced from her that we can't appreciate both her strengths and her weaknesses. An astute depiction of life on the psychic edge.” KIRKUS

One of the many triumphs of the journalist Meg Mason’s second novel is that it is both fantastically dark and almost unbearably funny, so funny that you often have to put it down for a bit and laugh, out loud, sometimes to the point of tears. Then just as you’re laughing the hardest, Mason breezily fires off another little arrow that hits its target with such accuracy that you’re left reeling.” INDIA KNIGHT, THE SUNDAY TIMES It’s interesting, I felt at half way the tone of the book changed and became a lot more serious. Exploring ideas of family, expectations and friendships, I loved how Abi grew in this book but my heart did ache for her at times, as she always tried to do her best for herself and Jude. Meg Mason writes about the slow bleed of life-long depression with candour, humour and stark precision. SORROW AND BLISS is about what happens when your illness pushes everyone away - leaving you with only the sorest parts of yourself for company. It will, as the title suggests, shatter your heart, before mending it with infinite love. I've never read anything like it and will be pressing it into the hands of every reader I know.” PANDORA SYKES 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.The reason I’ve given it a harsh 3 stars is that I’m furious that useless piece of shit Stu ended up with a lovely family despite essentially abandoning Abi to raise their child on her own because it was all a bit overwhelming for him. Guess what, Stu, getting pregnant was overwhelming for her too, but she had to become a mother immediately because she had no other choice; she didn’t get to delay parenthood until she felt ready. (Hmm, wonder why this is a sore spot for me?) This is one of the best novels about marriage that I have read, and that is a large field…This is also one of the best novels about mental illness I have read…I am adding it to my list of the best novels of 2020, alongside Andrew O’Hagan’s MAYFLIES, Sofie Laguna’s INFINITE SPLENDOURS and Douglas Stuart’s SHUGGIE BAIN, which won the Booker Prize.” THE AUSTRALIAN Not the most compelling story, I was surprised Meg Mason also wrote Sorrow and Bliss (one of my favourites of last year), as the books are so very different in pace and style. In Meg Mason’s almost eerily accomplished SORROW AND BLISS, the narrator Martha has suffered from mental illness since her teens. Yet, without ever playing down her pain, the result is often disconcertingly funny.” THE SPECTATOR You Be Mother: The charming novel about family and friendship from the Women's Prize shortlisted author of the bestselling book SORROW & BLISS

I was going to say, I’m excited for mason to write something that is not centred around motherhood, but actually this book is far more about friendship, the meaning of family, & filling the yawning gap your parents leave when you are a young adult (we love an inter-generational friendship). The beauty of Phil and Abi’s relationship felt so real, a mother figure without all the of expectation, past let downs, the intrusion of other family dynamics. Also covers loneliness and the liminal space between casual acquaintances and friends, imbued with longing, (which is so accurately portrayed, something I haven’t seen represented in text before - even though the same in romantic situations is the subject matter of every rom com ever).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. Phil was also pretty judgemental and I wish Roger (whom I liked) could have stepped up to his wife more in general. The characters were so believable, I feel I may bump into the Woolnaugh’s in Mosman or Stu at a coffee shop in the Inner West struggling with a pram. 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