Motherfaker

LoveReading Says

Barri Brown is a respected English teacher in Guernsey: reliable, conscientious, forever covering lessons for colleagues with childcare commitments (surely worth the occasional lemon drizzle thank-you cake?). She has spent years being dependable - at school and at home. Following all of the rules. Then her husband of ten years ends their marriage by text and disappears.

Worse still, he’s remortgaged their house without her knowledge. The final blow? A hard-earned promotion is handed to a less talented colleague.

Something in Barri snaps. Welcome to her no-f*cks-given era.

Her solution is as desperate as it is audacious: fake a pregnancy, take paid maternity leave, and use the time and the money to disappear and start again. Armed with a rotating cast of carefully selected “bumps”  and meticulous planning, she sets about executing the mother of all lies. What could possibly go wrong?

But the fake pregnancy is only the surface story. Page by page, Barri reveals her inner world. Her obsessive attention to detail, her struggles with social interaction, a sense that life is more effortful for her than for others. There are hints of neurodivergence, an aching loneliness, and a longing simply to exist without performing.

Set against the evocative backdrop of Guernsey (I'm now desperate to visit) - the blue postboxes, witch benches and island life - the novel balances sharp humour with real emotional depth. It’s about female rage, love, friendship and finding your people.

Barri may begin isolated and furious, but what unfolds is something far more hopeful: a messy, heartfelt reinvention. Funny, poignant and full of heart, Motherfaker reminds us that sometimes the biggest lie leads you closer to the truth. This is a beauty.

Deborah Maclaren

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