The School for Good Mothers
£9.99
Frida Liu is an anxiety-prone, 39-year-old, Chinese-American single mom living in a Philadelphia much like ours when she is reported, after a spate of sleepless nights with her 18-month-old, for leaving her daughter alone for a stretch of time she later calls her Very Bad Day. Yet there is no room in Frida’s world for bad days, let alone bad mothers, according to the state’s increasingly empowered Child Protective Services which seamlessly takes Harriet and sets about surveilling Frida’s home. After a series of almost comically bad supervised visits, a judge deems Frida temporarily unfit. Her only hope for continuing to share custody of Harriet with her ex (and his doting girlfriend) is to pass exams meted out by a prized new government program. This 12-month, live-in program, a ‘school’ situated on an abandoned college campus, will retrain Frida in how best to parent.
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
AN OBAMA’S 2022 SUMMER READING PICK
A BETWEEN THE COVERS NOVEMBER 2022 PICK
‘Will resonate with fans of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere‘ ELLE
‘Destined to be a feminist classic – kept me up at night’ PANDORA SYKES
‘The Handmaid’s Tale for the Squid Game generation’ TELEGRAPH
Frida Liu had fed and changed her toddler Harriet. She had a work deadline – an article to finish, a job hanging by a thread, a file she’d left in the office. She would go get it. Harriet would be fine. But then the neighbours heard her crying.
Soon, the state will decide that Frida is not fit to care for her daughter. That she must be re-trained. That bad mothers everywhere will be re-educated. Will their mistakes cost them everything?
The School for Good Mothers is an explosive and thrilling novel about love, perfectionism and parenthood.
A riveting, thought-provoking read’ DAILY MAIL
‘A remarkable, propulsive novel’ VOGUE
‘A portrait of our fanatical culture of judgement against women, and mothers in particular’ METRO
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