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The Mother of All Calamities
Not yet published
Expected 3 Mar 26A relatable, humorous and heartfelt take on contemporary parenting culture, exposing the cracks behind the Instagram gloss.
In Greengully, the perfect suburb with perfect parents, nothing is quite as it seems. Chrissy, the teacher who always has the answers, can't understand why her clueless male colleague just scored the job she deserved. Jenny, the perennial class mum, is desperate to hide her son's escalating behaviour from the other parents. Estelle insists her daughter Harmony is a delight—despite mounting evidence to the contrary. And Viv, the quiet one, carries a secret so dark it could destroy everything she loves.
As friendships strain and facades crack, the Greengully school year exposes the lies we tell ourselves and the masks we wear for others. Sharp-eyed and utterly relatable, it What would happen if we all stopped pretending everything was fine?
'A wonderful debut, a tonic for the times.' Sofie Laguna, author of The Choke and The Underworld
'Lisa is a deft and effortless storyteller who casts an unflinching and wonderfully sharp gaze over her characters and their world. A writer to watch.' Lucy Treloar, author of Wolfe Island and Days of Innocence and Wonder
'Moule conjures the atmosphere of the contemporary Australian school environment as a pitch-perfect social microcosm.' Cate Kennedy, author of Like a House on Fire
In Greengully, the perfect suburb with perfect parents, nothing is quite as it seems. Chrissy, the teacher who always has the answers, can't understand why her clueless male colleague just scored the job she deserved. Jenny, the perennial class mum, is desperate to hide her son's escalating behaviour from the other parents. Estelle insists her daughter Harmony is a delight—despite mounting evidence to the contrary. And Viv, the quiet one, carries a secret so dark it could destroy everything she loves.
As friendships strain and facades crack, the Greengully school year exposes the lies we tell ourselves and the masks we wear for others. Sharp-eyed and utterly relatable, it What would happen if we all stopped pretending everything was fine?
'A wonderful debut, a tonic for the times.' Sofie Laguna, author of The Choke and The Underworld
'Lisa is a deft and effortless storyteller who casts an unflinching and wonderfully sharp gaze over her characters and their world. A writer to watch.' Lucy Treloar, author of Wolfe Island and Days of Innocence and Wonder
'Moule conjures the atmosphere of the contemporary Australian school environment as a pitch-perfect social microcosm.' Cate Kennedy, author of Like a House on Fire
384 pages, Paperback
Expected publication March 3, 2026
26 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Moule
4 books3 followersLisa’s first novel THE MOTHER OF ALL CALAMITIES will be published next March 2026, with Allen and Unwin. Lisa is an actor and writer.
Lisa grew up in Melbourne and graduated from Melbourne University, before moving to Paris to study theatre at the École Jacques Lecoq. She then moved to London to begin a career as an actor and voice artist, appearing at The London Playhouse, Soho Theatre, and The Belgrade, Coventry, among others. She has voiced commercials, audiobooks, and animations including The Thunderbirds and The Skinner Boys. She has performed in countless plays.
Lisa began writing in 2019 when she commenced the Professional Writing and Editing course at RMIT. Since starting Lisa has published several short stories. In 2023 Lisa won second prize in The Australian Short Story Festival (ASSF), Emerging Writers’ Short Story Prize. She was shortlisted for the Peter Carey Award with Newton’s Cradle and shortlisted for Stringybark Short Story Award for Highly Flammable. In 2022, she won second prize in the Furphy Literary award for The Game (the winner was Cate Kennedy), she was a finalist in Newcastle Short Story Award with The Roundabout. In 2020 she published her first short story Estelle for the anthology Ordinary People .
She currently co-hosts 3CR’s Published or Not.
Lisa grew up in Melbourne and graduated from Melbourne University, before moving to Paris to study theatre at the École Jacques Lecoq. She then moved to London to begin a career as an actor and voice artist, appearing at The London Playhouse, Soho Theatre, and The Belgrade, Coventry, among others. She has voiced commercials, audiobooks, and animations including The Thunderbirds and The Skinner Boys. She has performed in countless plays.
Lisa began writing in 2019 when she commenced the Professional Writing and Editing course at RMIT. Since starting Lisa has published several short stories. In 2023 Lisa won second prize in The Australian Short Story Festival (ASSF), Emerging Writers’ Short Story Prize. She was shortlisted for the Peter Carey Award with Newton’s Cradle and shortlisted for Stringybark Short Story Award for Highly Flammable. In 2022, she won second prize in the Furphy Literary award for The Game (the winner was Cate Kennedy), she was a finalist in Newcastle Short Story Award with The Roundabout. In 2020 she published her first short story Estelle for the anthology Ordinary People .
She currently co-hosts 3CR’s Published or Not.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Greengully is a typical suburb in Australia, full of families with kids and the Christmas holidays are over and everyone is getting ready and psyched up for the start of the school year.
The story is told via the perspectives of Chrissy a grade three teacher, mothers Jenny, Viv and newbie Estelle.
Chrissy is annoyed when she’s overlooked for a promotion, it’s given to a male teacher she has been mentoring and showed the ropes. Jenny is a stay at home mum and a super organized one, she enjoys being on the parents association and fundraising committee. Viv misses working, has a secret and if it’s discovered her world will collapse around her. Estelle is alternate, a free thinker and rejects religious beliefs.
All education facilities have a hierarchy and pecking order, it starts before you get inside and at the front gate, and flows into the class rooms, playground, front office, staff room, and to pick up.
Two of the characters Jenny (Val) and Estelle (Harmony) have children with behavioural issues, this effects their friendship and others become involved, people take sides and social media adds fuel to the fire.
I received a copy of The Mother of All Calamities by Lisa Moule from NetGalley and Allen & Unwin in exchange for an honest review. This contemporary debut is brilliant, about primary school, personalities and egos, different ideas and expectations, everyone starts off all bright eyed and bushy tailed, as the weeks tick over and tiredness kicks in, kids argue, fall out and so do the mothers.
A relatable novel, sums up being a parent perfectly, it will make you laugh out loud, cry and feel sad, and in my case reminisce and be very grateful that I got to be a “school mum” and I’m so glad it’s over and I don’t have to worry about it anymore.
The characters make this story unputdownable, it has the right amount of drama and I highly recommend, well done Lisa Moule, five gold stars from me and I'm going to enjoy my freedom.
The story is told via the perspectives of Chrissy a grade three teacher, mothers Jenny, Viv and newbie Estelle.
Chrissy is annoyed when she’s overlooked for a promotion, it’s given to a male teacher she has been mentoring and showed the ropes. Jenny is a stay at home mum and a super organized one, she enjoys being on the parents association and fundraising committee. Viv misses working, has a secret and if it’s discovered her world will collapse around her. Estelle is alternate, a free thinker and rejects religious beliefs.
All education facilities have a hierarchy and pecking order, it starts before you get inside and at the front gate, and flows into the class rooms, playground, front office, staff room, and to pick up.
Two of the characters Jenny (Val) and Estelle (Harmony) have children with behavioural issues, this effects their friendship and others become involved, people take sides and social media adds fuel to the fire.
I received a copy of The Mother of All Calamities by Lisa Moule from NetGalley and Allen & Unwin in exchange for an honest review. This contemporary debut is brilliant, about primary school, personalities and egos, different ideas and expectations, everyone starts off all bright eyed and bushy tailed, as the weeks tick over and tiredness kicks in, kids argue, fall out and so do the mothers.
A relatable novel, sums up being a parent perfectly, it will make you laugh out loud, cry and feel sad, and in my case reminisce and be very grateful that I got to be a “school mum” and I’m so glad it’s over and I don’t have to worry about it anymore.
The characters make this story unputdownable, it has the right amount of drama and I highly recommend, well done Lisa Moule, five gold stars from me and I'm going to enjoy my freedom.
Displaying 1 of 1 review