Mothers & Other Lovers

 

Mothers and Other Lovers was published by Orion and is the story of a teenager stifled by life in the countryside who has an illicit affair with her mother’s female friend.

It was the subject of two Sunday Times cover stories and won the Betty Trask award

Synopsis

Teenager Eleanor studies hard at school, dreams of escape from a rural upbringingby going to university..then she falls in love,but with her mother's new female friend!This is set against the backdrop of the West Country.

 

 

Reviews for Mothers & Other Lovers:

"a vibrant first novel.

Independent on Sunday

"arresting and intimidating...... Feverishly written"

Anita Brookner, Spectator

"excellent first novel... vivid and fluent … a splintered, evocative, tender portrayal of the passion and contempt in the mother-daughter bond"

Guardian

"Perceptive, funny and passionate"

Sunday Times

"original and sympathetic... an intriguing read"

Time Out

"Powerful, original and uncomfortable"

Amanda Craig, Independent

"A fresh and funny portrait.... genuine feeling and gentle wit"

Times

"unusual plot... intense eroticism... Briscoe unravels the complex emotions with remarkable skill"

Telegraph

"shocking physicality and nerve"

Saturday Independent

"a novel full of intelligence and promise"

Nicci Gerrard, Elle

"intelligent and powerful"

Scotland on Sunday

"This is a perceptive vision of the ever-lurking tension between mothers and daughters"

Standard

"Joanna Briscoe handles the more risky conflation of sexual and family love with admirable assurance"

Jonathan Coe, Mail on Sunday

"a wonderful hothouse of explosive subterfuge and tension"

For Women

"in turns compassionate and stinging... it will definitely strike a chord"

Maureen Freely, Options

"a highly original novel of complex sexual tension"

Everywoman

"It's wonderful! I literally couldn't put it down..... I think Joanna Briscoe is a poet; I think her language is marvellous."

Ian McMillan, A Good Read, BBC Radio 4