02/06/2023
Gynecologist Miriam Stewart has dedicated her career to helping poor women in the “hollers” of western Virginia, where she herself grew up, make good reproductive choices. Now 65, at the brink of “retirement … old age … obsolescence,” she faces the increased needs of her octogenarian mother, Lillian, still living on her own although becoming more fragile. At the same time, Miriam’s lesbian daughter, Olivia, is exploring the possibility of motherhood through insemination, and Miriam’s on-again, off-again romantic partner—Olivia’s biological father—announces his return to her life. Then, on the eve of leaving her practice, she lands a multi-million-dollar grant that will enable her to build the women’s medical center she has long dreamed about. A revelation of disturbing family secrets, however, calls into question her career choices.
The ambitious cross-generational novel addresses compelling social issues such as class, health care, and women’s reproductive rights without taking a heavy-handed approach. Bryant's empathy and understanding shines throughout, a uniting perspective that helps unite some at-times disparate storylines. The Mother Gene employs three points of view—Miriam, Lillian, and Olivia—to good effect as it explores the theme of what it means to be a mother. A multi-timeline novel, the story hops from the present in 2010, back to Miriam’s early career in the 1970s, and then further back to her mother’s life during the Depression and World War II. Early on, these time shifts can feel jarring and too frequent, and what particular flashbacks are intended to illuminate is not always clear.
Bryant rewards reader patience, though, as midway through, when the characters are more fleshed-out, the strands weave together, and the narrative flows with purpose and power. Some readers may guess at aspects of Miriam’s family secret early on, and the revelation itself is somewhat drawn out. But when it finally arrives, the full truth about Lillian and Miriam’s past delivers an emotional punch thanks to Bryant’s perceptive, humane characterization and abiding sense of what matters most.
Takeaway: A gynecologist questions the choices she made in her life in this humane novel of family and secrets.
Great for fans of: Diane Chamberlain, Jodi Picoult
Production grades Cover: B+ Design and typography: A Illustrations: N/A Editing: A Marketing copy: A
