[A] tour de force that deserves recognition and as wide an audience as possible.” — Patrik Bass, Essence
I”n the follow-up to her Man Booker Prize-nominated debut, A Cupboard Full of Coats, Edwards delivers a quietly devastating novel about a mother’s attempt to survive after the murder of her 16-year-old son.... Set in Edwards’ native London, the book’s delicate, lyrical prose belies the horrifying events that propel the plot. Readers’ assumptions are challenged, along with Marcia’s, as the twisted realities of life for poor, urban teenagers become clear. Edwards manages to pull off a serious examination of how the social contract is failing a large portion of Britain’s urban population without moralizing in what is, ultimately, the story of one family’s road to acceptance and healing in the wake of a tragic loss.” — Booklist
“In this memorable story of strength in the aftermath of violent tragedy, Edwards paints a close, vivid portrait of a mother’s unrelenting mission to avoid anger and blame, instead finding real justice and necessary closure.” — Publishers Weekly
“A mother learns more about her murdered teenage son, and her family, than she knew possible during his killer’s trial.” — Brooklyn Magazine
“Here are beautifully drawn characters anchored in the universal experiences of love, loss, and grieving. With subtle nuance and elegant precision, Edwards crafts a richly detailed world that holds up the great weight that bears down on it: the death of a child.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Edwards perceptively explores a wide realm of issues, uncovering layer by layer the complicated answers to the questions that have hounded Marcia since her son’s death… Edwards writes with compassion for her characters and with intuitive understanding of the effects of loss on a family, as well as the underlying causes that can lead to senseless crimes such as this one. The Mother is highly recommended for readers who enjoy current issue-related fiction by authors such as Jodi Picoult and Jacquelyn Mitchard.” — BookPage
“Riveting… [The Mother] explores how one mother copes with the murder of her son-and the courtroom drama of the trial that follows.” — The Root
“Yvvette Edwards knows how to break your heart. Vivid and real, I care about her characters they way I’d care about my own kin.” — Mitchell Jackson, author of The Residue Years and Oversoul
“The Mother is beautiful in the clarity of its writing and honest emotion in its depiction of grief. Yvvette Edwards is a formidable talent.” — Jervey Tervalon, author of Monster Chef, The Cocaine Chronicles, and Dead Above Ground
“Seduces with gripping and enticing storytelling. It takes you through an amazing arrangement of emotions: anger, hate, despair, and grief, while tapping into what it means to yearn for a sense of humanity. An intense, pressure cooker of a novel, showing that Edwards is a star.” — Guy A. Sims, Author of Living Just a Little, Monster, and Brotherman Revelation
“Love, loss, pain, race, poverty, abuse and redemption are all beautifully played out in Edwards’ novel about a mother struggling to not just ‘remain alive, but live.’ Edwards’ story moves us in and out of a courtroom and into the heart of human suffering and ultimate strength.” — Naseem Rakha, author of The Crying Tree
“Between the living and the dead stands The Mother. Eloquent, frank, superb.” — Rita Williams-Garcia, winner of the Newbery Honor Award and Coretta Scott King Award
“This is the clear, rhythmic, honest tale that black mothers raising young black men know: surreal loss and the more surreal truth that we and our children are deeply connected to other black women and their children, no matter where we’ve come from.” — Zelda Lockhart, author of Fifth Born
Riveting… [The Mother] explores how one mother copes with the murder of her son-and the courtroom drama of the trial that follows.
[A] tour de force that deserves recognition and as wide an audience as possible.
Yvvette Edwards knows how to break your heart. Vivid and real, I care about her characters they way I’d care about my own kin.
Seduces with gripping and enticing storytelling. It takes you through an amazing arrangement of emotions: anger, hate, despair, and grief, while tapping into what it means to yearn for a sense of humanity. An intense, pressure cooker of a novel, showing that Edwards is a star.
The Mother is beautiful in the clarity of its writing and honest emotion in its depiction of grief. Yvvette Edwards is a formidable talent.
A mother learns more about her murdered teenage son, and her family, than she knew possible during his killer’s trial.
I”n the follow-up to her Man Booker Prize-nominated debut, A Cupboard Full of Coats, Edwards delivers a quietly devastating novel about a mother’s attempt to survive after the murder of her 16-year-old son.... Set in Edwards’ native London, the book’s delicate, lyrical prose belies the horrifying events that propel the plot. Readers’ assumptions are challenged, along with Marcia’s, as the twisted realities of life for poor, urban teenagers become clear. Edwards manages to pull off a serious examination of how the social contract is failing a large portion of Britain’s urban population without moralizing in what is, ultimately, the story of one family’s road to acceptance and healing in the wake of a tragic loss.
Edwards perceptively explores a wide realm of issues, uncovering layer by layer the complicated answers to the questions that have hounded Marcia since her son’s death… Edwards writes with compassion for her characters and with intuitive understanding of the effects of loss on a family, as well as the underlying causes that can lead to senseless crimes such as this one. The Mother is highly recommended for readers who enjoy current issue-related fiction by authors such as Jodi Picoult and Jacquelyn Mitchard.
Between the living and the dead stands The Mother. Eloquent, frank, superb.
Love, loss, pain, race, poverty, abuse and redemption are all beautifully played out in Edwards’ novel about a mother struggling to not just ‘remain alive, but live.’ Edwards’ story moves us in and out of a courtroom and into the heart of human suffering and ultimate strength.
This is the clear, rhythmic, honest tale that black mothers raising young black men know: surreal loss and the more surreal truth that we and our children are deeply connected to other black women and their children, no matter where we’ve come from.
I”n the follow-up to her Man Booker Prize-nominated debut, A Cupboard Full of Coats, Edwards delivers a quietly devastating novel about a mother’s attempt to survive after the murder of her 16-year-old son.... Set in Edwards’ native London, the book’s delicate, lyrical prose belies the horrifying events that propel the plot. Readers’ assumptions are challenged, along with Marcia’s, as the twisted realities of life for poor, urban teenagers become clear. Edwards manages to pull off a serious examination of how the social contract is failing a large portion of Britain’s urban population without moralizing in what is, ultimately, the story of one family’s road to acceptance and healing in the wake of a tragic loss.
03/07/2016
Edwards (A Cupboard Full of Coats) delves into the hyperactive mind of Marcia Williams as she struggles to process the recent murder of her 16-year-old son, Ryan, and find closure in an ocean of grief. Composed primarily of daily court proceedings and Marcia’s internal search for meaning, the novel is evocatively claustrophobic. As neglected details of the case begin to emerge, Marcia’s circular ruminations become increasingly seductive. The smallest facts begin to take on great importance as potential keys to Ryan’s death, though Marcia reminds herself that the “what-ifs are infinite, a useless spiral stairway descending straight into hell.” Marcia has been resentfully avoiding Sweetie—the young woman with whom Ryan had been involved. But after this initial aversion wears away, Sweetie shows herself to be crucial in understanding Ryan’s final days. The trial of Ryan’s accused killer, Tyson Manley, which at first seems as if it will result in an easy murder conviction, is complicated by Sweetie’s testimony and the shocking new evidence she brings to light. In this memorable story of strength in the aftermath of violent tragedy, Edwards paints a close, vivid portrait of a mother’s unrelenting mission to avoid anger and blame, instead finding real justice and necessary closure. (May)
12/01/2015
London-based Edwards made her mark by debuting with A Cupboard Full of Coats, which was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award; short-listed for the NAACP Image Award; and won the Kirkus Best Book of the Year Award. Here, she examines the issue of black-on-black crime with the story of Marcia Williams, whose 16-year-old son Ryan has been stabbed to death by a young troublemaker.
2016-02-17
After the murder of 16-year-old Ryan Williams, his mother, Marcia, is consumed by grief as she struggles to find answers to his killing. "How is it possible for my son to have been doing all the right things, that as parents, Lloydie and I, we were doing all the right things and yet still Ryan is dead?" Marcia can't stop wondering. In the days after Ryan's death, there are many things Marcia can't stop doing. She can't break the habit of going into Ryan's room "like I went in there when my son was alive, to hurry his getting ready or shoo him down to breakfast." She can't stop crying. But Marcia must shutter away her sadness and tears from her husband, Lloydie, who's grown withdrawn and separate and won't even attend the trial of their son's murderer, Tyson Manley, with her. The question of how—and why—Ryan met his death is the driving question as the courtroom drama progresses. "I don't know if his growth spurt had ended, will never know the exact height my son would have achieved as a man," Marcia thinks, when seeing the bulky form of her son's murderer in the courtroom. And as the trial of Tyson Manley comes to an end, Marcia and all who loved Ryan struggle to keep faith in both justice and healing. Here are beautifully drawn characters anchored in the universal experiences of love, loss, and grieving. With subtle nuance and elegant precision, Edwards (A Cupboard Full of Coats, 2012) crafts a richly detailed world that holds up the great weight that bears down on it: the death of a child. But, ultimately, the lack of resolution leaves the reader with a lingering sense of the unfinished.
