The Other Mother
Description
<b>A courageous story about a mother in crisis from one of Norway's most exciting writers, for readers of <i>Boulder</i> and <i>Detransition, Baby</i></b>
<i>Silje Marie has been keeping a secret from her wife. She loves one of her sons more than the other.</i>
In their sleepy suburb of Oslo, she's given Henry and Olav the childhood she never had: organic cotton clothing, a house by the forest, apple pies baked with Grandma on summer afternoons.
But when Silje Marie stays behind to clear the house for an upcoming renovation, buried thoughts resurface. She is haunted by the sense that only one of her children truly feels like her own-an admission that would destroy her wife, Helene. Worse still, there is the other mother. A woman befriended in secret, whose son's resemblance to Henry is impossible to ignore.
Spiky, daring and feverishly intense, this is a story about the complex confinement and joy of family life, and a mother drawn towards dismantling the home she has fought so hard to build.
<b>'Raises impressive ruminations on the nature of this ownership we call love' </b>Kenan Orhan, author of <i>The Renovation</i></b>
<b>'Brave, well-written, distinctive'</b> <i>Morgenbladet</i>
<b>'Exceptionally powerful' </b><i>Vart Land</i>
<b>'Digs deep into the gnarly emotions hidden behind domesticity' </b>Szilvia Molnar, author of <i>The Nursery</i>
Reviews / Votes
A darkly absorbing portrait of a woman in crisis, engulfed by the complexities of biology, queer family and motherhood * Stylist * Raises impressive ruminations on the nature of this ownership we call love, the definition of kin, the rights both of parents over their children and children out from under their parents. It is remarkably philosophical with the energy of a catastrophe -- Kenan Orhan, author of The Renovation In crystal clear prose, the book digs deep into the gnarly emotions hidden behind domesticity (or caused by domesticity!). Silje Marie is a wonderfully complicated character, so naturally lovable and obviously flawed, which is also what makes her irresistible to the reader. At times, Silje reminded me of an old friend, a former lover, or even a different version of myself -- Szilvia Molnar, author of The Nursery All you want from a novel: brave, well-written, distinctive * Morgenbladet * Amodt has written the first significant Norwegian lesbian family novel. Its discomfort is the book's most important quality. . . The Other Mother hit me like a punch in the stomach * Klassekampen * An exceptionally powerful novel about the gap between what we think and what we feel, how we wish the world to be and how we experience it * Vart Land * Amodt writes honestly and with great insight about significant ethical problems of family life * Dag og Tid *More details
Persons
Alison McCullough is a translator and writer based in Stavanger, Norway. She holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Oxford and an MA in Film Studies from University College London. Her translation of Klara Hveberg's Lean Your Loneliness Slowly Against Mine was longlisted for the 2022 PEN America Translation Prize.