All My Mothers
As seen:
By Joanna Glen
avg rating
2 reviews
‘One of those rarest of books: so beautiful I almost couldn’t bear it, and so moving I was reading through tears’ STACEY HALLS
‘Uniquely witty, beautifully observed, intricately woven’ MIRANDA HART ‘A truly glorious life-affirming book, in which love, hope and friendship trump sorrow’ DINAH JEFFERIES ‘Had me absolutely sobbing – a beautiful, beautiful book’ JO BROWNING WROE, bestselling author of A TERRIBLE KINDNESS ‘Worth every tear’ WOMAN & HOME ‘Exquisitely tender, powerfully compelling’ SARAH HAYWOOD ‘One of my new all-time favourite books – an absolute joy’ JULIETTA HENDERSON ‘Thoughtful, warm and engaging’ CHRISTINA SWEENEY-BAIRD ‘Honest, heartfelt and hopeful’ MARIANNE CRONIN ‘A joy to read’ ANNE YOUNGSON ‘A love song to women everywhere’ ERICKA WALLER MEET EVA MARTÍNEZ-GREEN, AN ONLY CHILD FULL OF QUESTIONS ABOUT HER BEGINNINGS. Between her emotionally absent mother and her physically absent father, there is nobody to answer them. Eva is convinced that all is not as it seems. Why are there no baby pictures of her? Why do her parents avoid all questions about her early years? When her parents’ relationship crumbles, Eva begins a journey to find these answers for herself. Her desire to discover where she belongs leads Eva on a journey spanning decades and continents – and, along the way, she meets women who challenge her idea of what a mother should be, and who will change her life forever… ‘A glorious journey into loving & longing’ ANSTEY HARRIS ‘Heartrending and heartwarming’ CELIA ANDERSON ‘Exquisite’ JESSICA RYN ‘A deep delight of a book that vibrates with love and longing’ HELEN PARISPraise for Joanna Glen’s debut novel, The Other Half of Augusta Hope: ‘A therapeutic dose of high-strength emotion’ GUARDIAN ‘Entertains and moves in equal measure’ DAILY MAIL ‘Keep the tissues close’ GOOD HOUSEKEEPING ‘An irresistible message of redemption and belonging’RED magazine ‘Heartening and hopeful’ JESS KIDD ‘Mesmerizingly beautiful’ SARAH HAYWOOD ‘An extraordinary masterpiece’ ANSTEY HARRIS Tweet
Reviews
St Just Thursday Evening Reading Group 8th September 2022.
All my mothers. Joanna Glen.
Once again, most of the reading group very much enjoyed this book, and there were hardly any negative criticisms. We liked the writing style, and the clever way in which the accounts of the different mothers were teased out. It was interesting for the reader to match up the real-life mothers with the rainbow-book mothers of different colours and characteristics.
We thought the story evoked a very sad girl, lacking a real mother-figure at the opening, and soon with an absent father. She suffered with endometriosis and had no one to sympathise with her; and then she lost all her friends. Her adoption was hushed up and no one accorded her the respect of any discussion of the matter. But as the narrative continued, and despite everyone’s problems, the story became one of women supporting each other: Eva found a succession of ‘mothers’ with different qualities: the Spanish nun, her own birth mother (after initial difficulties), her friends, and finally Eva herself became a proxy mother to her friend’s child. Even Eva’s adoptive mother found a kind of happiness with Jean, her carer and then her lover, who provided her with the mothering that she needed.
The men in the tale were mostly unhelpful, with the exceptions of Nigel, whose character is endearing, and Eva’s eventual partner.
The setting of Cordoba was popular with readers, those having visited the city being especially complimentary. A colourful background and a great sense of place, were comments about this.
Complaints were that the book was perhaps a little too long; and that the one-sentence paragraphs became slightly annoying after a while. Also one reader considered the idea of Eva being the only child not to be able to produce a picture of herself as a baby, for a school project, was flawed and unlikely. We discussed this and considered it to be a dubious educational practice in any case.
This book was generally a popular one with the group – a beautiful and absorbing story, with an inspirational setting.
Eva’s friend is Bridget Blume, but the person she connects with is her friends Mother.
Bridget’s mother is sensitive, loving, hugs where she sees a difference in her own life.
She seeks out her real mom.
This although is poignant and sad in places it balances out with some good uplifts.
A coming of age story seeped in emotions.
