Brilliant.
A novel that exposes the cult of motherhood by opening up a conversation about the things we do in life that we don’t understand. Leda is an ‘unnatural mother’ who broke motherhood's taboos by putting her needs first. An astute and vital woman depleted and disillusioned by domesticity, she left her young family to pursue an academic career. Returning three years later, she worked tirelessly to rebuild her relationships with her daughters. The novel begins when her daughters, now in their twenties, have left home to live with their father in Canada. Leda enjoys a reading holiday alone on the Ionian coast of Italy. The psychological implications of a disturbing encounter with a Neapolitan family on the beach are the subject of this unsentimental book which forces Leda to confront her complex past. It explores maternal discontent, societal pressure, judgemental 'other mothers', complicated family relationships and the intergenerational trauma of the matriline in a violent and oppressive patriarchal Neapolitan society. A very astute member of my reading group identified the doll as Leda's way of manipulating Nina and Lena's relationship. . very insightful.