The Book of Mother

Violaine Huisman

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The Book of Mother was longlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize, named a New York Times Notable Book, and was a Library Journal Best Book of 2021. A debut novel about a young woman coming of age with a dazzling yet damaged mother who lived and loved in extremes. This stunning translation of Violaine Huisman's work showcases a Parisian childhood with a charismatic, depressed parent. 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.