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The Mother
The author of the critically acclaimed A Cupboard Full of Coats makes her hardcover debut with a provocative and timely novel about an emotionally devastated mother’s struggle to understand her teenage son’s death and her search for meaning and hope in the wake of incomprehensible loss
The unimaginable has happened to Marcia Williams. Her bright and beautiful sixteen-year-old son Ryan has been brutally murdered. Consumed by grief and rage, she must bridle her dark feelings and endure something no mother should ever have to experience: she must go to court for the trial of the killer—another teenage boy—accused of taking her son’s life.
How could her son be dead? Ryan should have been safe—he wasn’t the kind of boy to find himself on the wrong end of a knife carried by a dangerous young man like Tyson Manley. But as the trial proceeds, Marcia finds her beliefs and assumptions challenged as she learns more about Ryan’s death and Tyson’s life, including his dysfunctional family. She also discovers troubling truths about her own. As the strain of Ryan’s death tests their marriage, Lloydie, her husband, pulls further away, hiding behind a wall of secrets that masks his grief, while Marcia draws closer to her sister, who is becoming her prime confidant.
One person seems to hold the answers—and the hope—Marcia needs: Tyson's scared young girlfriend, Sweetie. But as this anguished mother has learned, nothing in life is certain. Not any more.
A beautiful, engrossing novel that illuminates some of the most important and troubling issues of our time, The Mother is a moving portrait of love, tragedy, and survival—and the aftershocks from a momentary act of cruel violence that transforms the lives of everyone it touches.
The unimaginable has happened to Marcia Williams. Her bright and beautiful sixteen-year-old son Ryan has been brutally murdered. Consumed by grief and rage, she must bridle her dark feelings and endure something no mother should ever have to experience: she must go to court for the trial of the killer—another teenage boy—accused of taking her son’s life.
How could her son be dead? Ryan should have been safe—he wasn’t the kind of boy to find himself on the wrong end of a knife carried by a dangerous young man like Tyson Manley. But as the trial proceeds, Marcia finds her beliefs and assumptions challenged as she learns more about Ryan’s death and Tyson’s life, including his dysfunctional family. She also discovers troubling truths about her own. As the strain of Ryan’s death tests their marriage, Lloydie, her husband, pulls further away, hiding behind a wall of secrets that masks his grief, while Marcia draws closer to her sister, who is becoming her prime confidant.
One person seems to hold the answers—and the hope—Marcia needs: Tyson's scared young girlfriend, Sweetie. But as this anguished mother has learned, nothing in life is certain. Not any more.
A beautiful, engrossing novel that illuminates some of the most important and troubling issues of our time, The Mother is a moving portrait of love, tragedy, and survival—and the aftershocks from a momentary act of cruel violence that transforms the lives of everyone it touches.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 10, 2016
92 people are currently reading
1617 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 173 reviews
February 16, 2016
Gah, so many emotions! I was a nervous wreck reading this, but I couldn't put it down. Can't wait to discuss it with others after they've had a chance to read it.
February 28, 2018
I loved this book. Quiet, beautiful prose about an incredibly difficult subject. I started it last year, and let's just say, it was a particularly bad time to be reading about dead, Black boys, so I set it aside. Had I not done so, I believe I would have been better off, but I could not have known that. The mood in the beginning, and for the first third of the book is one of melancholy. It is hard not to feel what Marcia, the main character feels -- the hopelessness, the helplessness, the pain.
The entire book takes place over the course of about a week, as she attends the trial of a sixteen-year-old young man, accused of killing her fifteen-year-old son. She attends without her husband Lloyd, who is locked in his own crippling, unspoken grief. Marcia and Lloyd are emotionally estranged because of the different ways they choose to deal with their pain and though she has support from elsewhere, she cannot understand why her husband has so completely disconnected himself not only from their shared tragedy, but from her.
As Marcia struggles to find meaning in her son Ryan's death, she instead finds compassion for the young man who took Ryan's life, and for the young woman who may have precipitated the murder. Over the course of the trial, she begins to see how, when one takes the life of another, two lives are lost. The evolution of Marcia's perspective about this, the worst thing that could ever happen to a parent, was so beautifully rendered that I had to stop several times just to underline passages, and re-read them for the sheer pleasure of it. As in her previous work, 'A Cupboard Full of Coats', Yvvette Edwards portrayed the most difficult of emotions, and a family facing the most heartbreaking of circumstances without once slipping into the mawkishly sentimental.
There was also a fair bit of socio-political commentary, in the voices of the characters, and though the novel is set in England, it was depressingly similar (well, identical really) to what one might say about young Black men caught up in the juvenile and criminal justice system in the United States. But even this, was not overwrought or heavy-handed, but just enough to make the point that needed to be made. (I'm not sure many authors could show that kind of restraint for a subject that inspires such passion.)
Highly recommended. (And I hope to God, the author is working on something new right now.)
The entire book takes place over the course of about a week, as she attends the trial of a sixteen-year-old young man, accused of killing her fifteen-year-old son. She attends without her husband Lloyd, who is locked in his own crippling, unspoken grief. Marcia and Lloyd are emotionally estranged because of the different ways they choose to deal with their pain and though she has support from elsewhere, she cannot understand why her husband has so completely disconnected himself not only from their shared tragedy, but from her.
As Marcia struggles to find meaning in her son Ryan's death, she instead finds compassion for the young man who took Ryan's life, and for the young woman who may have precipitated the murder. Over the course of the trial, she begins to see how, when one takes the life of another, two lives are lost. The evolution of Marcia's perspective about this, the worst thing that could ever happen to a parent, was so beautifully rendered that I had to stop several times just to underline passages, and re-read them for the sheer pleasure of it. As in her previous work, 'A Cupboard Full of Coats', Yvvette Edwards portrayed the most difficult of emotions, and a family facing the most heartbreaking of circumstances without once slipping into the mawkishly sentimental.
There was also a fair bit of socio-political commentary, in the voices of the characters, and though the novel is set in England, it was depressingly similar (well, identical really) to what one might say about young Black men caught up in the juvenile and criminal justice system in the United States. But even this, was not overwrought or heavy-handed, but just enough to make the point that needed to be made. (I'm not sure many authors could show that kind of restraint for a subject that inspires such passion.)
Highly recommended. (And I hope to God, the author is working on something new right now.)
May 15, 2016
This book was very interesting. It followed Marcia Williams who is about to attend the trial of the 17 yr old boy who murdered her son Ryan.
Marcia came to court with an image in her head of everyone involved and she found herself constantly having to reevaluate those assumptions. From her husband Lloydie to Sweetie the young girl Ryan had been seeing, people weren't acting like she expected or even wanted them to.
As a mother, I couldn't imagine the pain and anguish Marcia and Llyodie were going through. There are so many aspects of a trial that I never considered for the eyes of the families both the victims and the accused. I must admit it was uncomfortable at times. This woman's suffering was palpable. Definitely a thought provoking read. A powerful commentary on trying to make sense of a senseless tragedy and the effect on all those affected by the crime.
January 9, 2016
Marcia's son Ryan is dead and the boy charged with killing him is on trial. A newspaper story reporting on the crime shows the pictures of Ryan and his killer without saying which is which, something that bothers Marcia deeply. Both boys are black teenagers, but her son has been well brought up, with good parents who work hard. The other boy, Tyson, comes from a life of crime and poverty that makes his criminality seem inevitable.
I am in a reading slump where I hate almost everything. And yet I ended up reading THE MOTHER, which is not a book I would have expected to like. I tend to avoid sad novels about sad parents of murdered children dealing with the aftermath. And I tend to avoid books with lots of courtroom scenes, since they usually get them so wrong and my experience as a lawyer makes me pretty impatient. And yet, I read it and enjoyed it.
There is something in Edwards' voice that I can't explain, something in how she wrote Marcia that connected with me immediately. In many ways this is a crime novel and a social novel. It's not really a whodunnit, though there are definitely reveals and revelations as witnesses testify. The book's strengths lie in the very thing that bothered me the most: Marcia is a prejudiced person. Marcia cannot stop looking at Tyson's mother in the courtroom. She cannot stop thinking about what a terrible person she is. She cannot think about the girl her son was dating, an unacceptable choice in her opinion, without seeing her as someone less. Following Marcia as she digs in her heels and then has to reevaluate her opinions is not an easy journey and she is not the most likeable person, but she feels very, very real.
I honestly wanted more of that. More of Marcia and her attitudes on class and race. I wanted less of Marcia's nearly-dead and melancholy-ridden marriage and more of the dynamic elements, but it's worthy of a read and certainly relevant in these times.
I am in a reading slump where I hate almost everything. And yet I ended up reading THE MOTHER, which is not a book I would have expected to like. I tend to avoid sad novels about sad parents of murdered children dealing with the aftermath. And I tend to avoid books with lots of courtroom scenes, since they usually get them so wrong and my experience as a lawyer makes me pretty impatient. And yet, I read it and enjoyed it.
There is something in Edwards' voice that I can't explain, something in how she wrote Marcia that connected with me immediately. In many ways this is a crime novel and a social novel. It's not really a whodunnit, though there are definitely reveals and revelations as witnesses testify. The book's strengths lie in the very thing that bothered me the most: Marcia is a prejudiced person. Marcia cannot stop looking at Tyson's mother in the courtroom. She cannot stop thinking about what a terrible person she is. She cannot think about the girl her son was dating, an unacceptable choice in her opinion, without seeing her as someone less. Following Marcia as she digs in her heels and then has to reevaluate her opinions is not an easy journey and she is not the most likeable person, but she feels very, very real.
I honestly wanted more of that. More of Marcia and her attitudes on class and race. I wanted less of Marcia's nearly-dead and melancholy-ridden marriage and more of the dynamic elements, but it's worthy of a read and certainly relevant in these times.
November 19, 2025
The Mother is the story of a mother’s struggle to come to terms with understanding her teenage son’s violent death, it is both a courtroom drama following the murder of Marcia and Lloydie’s 16-year-old son Ryan and a story of transformation and healing through grief.
Suffering Together, Drifting Apart – the Complexity of Grief
Marcia wants to be present every day at court, her husband Lloydie does not. Increasingly emotionally estranged, she does not understand what he does all day, where he goes. Their habits are changing and they seem to be leaving each other behind, dealing with the loss in completely different ways, on their own.
The Need to Understand
Marci is determined to be present every day, to understand why this happened and comes to realise that there may be things about her son that she did not know.
The novel follows the case and outside the court other events begin to shed light on the situation, Marcia’s beliefs and assumptions are challenged. In her need to know, she becomes reckless.
She observes the boy who is being charged, his fixed stare and has already decided his fate. She regards his mother with contempt, unable to imagine how she too might not be responsible.
Edwards is adept at tapping into the realms of Ryan’s peers and the insidious, threatening world of youth gang culture, which comes into full view through he character of Sweetie, the girl caught between the earnest world of Ryan and the manipulative obedience she has to Tyson Manley and his type.
It is a thought provoking story of complicated parenting and motherhood highlighting effects of judgment, truth seeking, and the social forces that shape personal and family outcomes, while reflecting on the particular role of mother. Motherhood becomes a lifelong, consuming identity, the loss of a child, in this case, destabilising her sense of self.
I used to be good at making decisions, took it for granted completely, imagined it was one of those things that because I’d always been good at it, I would continue to be good at it, and then something like what happened to Ryan comes along and you realise some things are just temporary gifts granted for part of your life only, like the headful of hair you imagined would be yours forever that you went to sleep with one night and as usual but woke the following morning to find gone, clean gone.
Suffering Together, Drifting Apart – the Complexity of Grief
Marcia wants to be present every day at court, her husband Lloydie does not. Increasingly emotionally estranged, she does not understand what he does all day, where he goes. Their habits are changing and they seem to be leaving each other behind, dealing with the loss in completely different ways, on their own.
‘Aren’t you going to ask how it went?’ I say.
It’s not the question I intended; too in-your-face, accusatory. I didn’t want to start the discussion here but it’s out now, I can’t take it back.
His tone is dutiful. ‘How did it go?’
‘It was hard. Listening. Seeing that boy, his mother. Very hard.’
The Need to Understand
Marci is determined to be present every day, to understand why this happened and comes to realise that there may be things about her son that she did not know.
Understanding has been my problem from the start. How is it possible that my son was doing all the right things, that as parents, Lloydie and I, we were doing all the right things, and yet still Ryan is dead?
The novel follows the case and outside the court other events begin to shed light on the situation, Marcia’s beliefs and assumptions are challenged. In her need to know, she becomes reckless.
She observes the boy who is being charged, his fixed stare and has already decided his fate. She regards his mother with contempt, unable to imagine how she too might not be responsible.
Edwards is adept at tapping into the realms of Ryan’s peers and the insidious, threatening world of youth gang culture, which comes into full view through he character of Sweetie, the girl caught between the earnest world of Ryan and the manipulative obedience she has to Tyson Manley and his type.
It is a thought provoking story of complicated parenting and motherhood highlighting effects of judgment, truth seeking, and the social forces that shape personal and family outcomes, while reflecting on the particular role of mother. Motherhood becomes a lifelong, consuming identity, the loss of a child, in this case, destabilising her sense of self.
May 20, 2016
This novel kicks off with an incredibly powerful first chapter that pulled me in immediately, even though it was obvious this would be an emotionally difficult read. The Mother is part story of a mother’s grief, part courtroom drama, part portrait of grief’s impact on a marriage, and part statement about race, poverty, and what happens to people born into a rough life on the streets.
Edwards’ simple, yet impactful writing and powerful images take the reader on the emotional roller coaster ride of the trial along with Marcia…feeling how each subtle change in momentum sends Marcia’s emotions either tumbling or soaring. As the story progresses, the book’s feel changes from quieter to more action-packed, culminating in a particular scene that that felt out of place. I really loved that quieter book and a part of me wishes the ending had maintained the same emotions-focused feel. Despite my lack of love for some aspects of the ending, The Mother is a powerful book in a compact package and is going on my Great Books Under 300 Pages and Book Club Recommendations lists.
Visit my blog, www.sarahsbookshelves.com, for more reviews.
Edwards’ simple, yet impactful writing and powerful images take the reader on the emotional roller coaster ride of the trial along with Marcia…feeling how each subtle change in momentum sends Marcia’s emotions either tumbling or soaring. As the story progresses, the book’s feel changes from quieter to more action-packed, culminating in a particular scene that that felt out of place. I really loved that quieter book and a part of me wishes the ending had maintained the same emotions-focused feel. Despite my lack of love for some aspects of the ending, The Mother is a powerful book in a compact package and is going on my Great Books Under 300 Pages and Book Club Recommendations lists.
Visit my blog, www.sarahsbookshelves.com, for more reviews.
September 2, 2016
4.5 stars. Very emotional read. This story is about a couple whose son is murdered. The author did an excellent job taking the reader through the grieving process of this couple. Edwards gave me a clear view of the victim and the accuser. This is a story of pain and forgiveness. I love how the author takes the reader through the trial of their son, Ryan. The trial was very clear and detailed. I felt like I was n the courtroom sitting next to his mother, Marcia. My only dislike was I wish the trial ended differently. I felt like I needed a page more to close it out. I also was left wanting to know who is the father of Sweetie's baby. Overall this was a great read that I would recommend to others. I look forward to reading more by this author.
September 27, 2016
Oh wow, this was a stunningly written book, and what an emotional read. It was sad, and the emotions of the parents were so real and so raw. This is not a novel full of twists and turns, it's a character and plot driven story. It tells the story of a married couple who are dealing with a terrible loss, being the loss of their teenage son. Both parents are dealing with the loss differently. The story is very fast moving and I loved the scenes from the trial, they had me hooked. At the end of the day, this is not a depressing story, but more uplifting towards the end. I loved this book.
October 24, 2023
3.5 stars.
A hauntingly sad book about a mother’s grief for her deceased son. It focuses on the court case of her son’s alleged attacker and was actually a little different from what I was expecting.
Well written but I found it quite a difficult read, it was just too sad and depressing. Whatever the outcome there was never going to be a happy ending here.
A hauntingly sad book about a mother’s grief for her deceased son. It focuses on the court case of her son’s alleged attacker and was actually a little different from what I was expecting.
Well written but I found it quite a difficult read, it was just too sad and depressing. Whatever the outcome there was never going to be a happy ending here.
May 16, 2016
Categorized as fiction, but following one family’s experience in the aftermath of a heartbreaking crime, The Mother is the second book from Edwards, author of the much lauded A Cupboard Full of Coats. What I loved about this book was the symbiotic balance of the raw, unflinching emotion of a family torn apart by the death of a loved one, set against the remorseless impassivity of both the legal process they must endure, and the perpetrator they face in the courtroom. Edwards takes the reader from one to another with consummate ease, making the heartrending grief of Ryan’s parents, Marcia and Lloydie, and the fissure it has caused in their relationship, all the more poignant against the sterile coldness of the court procedures that Marcia in particular witnesses as the case progresses. Equally, Edwards has a highly attuned ear for, and sharp recognition of, the world of Ryan’s peers, and the insidious grasp of gang culture in the inner city. This comes to the fore in her characterisation of Sweetie, a young girl who is caught between the studious and respectable world of Ryan, and the forced allegiance she has to the local gang. This is a hard-hitting and socially intuitive novel that is ultimately both an emotional and thought-provoking must read. Recommended.
May 19, 2016
The Mother by Yvvette Edwards
What is every parents worse nightmare? The death of a child. This fact is revealed on the blurb on the inside cover of the dust jacket. Marcia the mother of Ryan (who is killed in a senseless crime, aren't they all?), has to go to court everyday alone. Her husband Lloydie has kind of checked out of life. Lloydie can see no benefit in going to court. He refuses to go to support Marcia, in spite of her really wanting him to go with her. The reason Marcia is putting herself through the painful motions of going to court each day is that she longs to understand the reason her sixteen year old son was murdered.
Marcia transforms throughout the story from a very prejudiced person, to a mother who sees her son's killer as just another neglected, fatherless almost victim of his own life circumstances. There is much more to this story that ultimately brings some comfort and redemption to Marcia and Lloydies life, but I will leave that to the reader to discover.
What is every parents worse nightmare? The death of a child. This fact is revealed on the blurb on the inside cover of the dust jacket. Marcia the mother of Ryan (who is killed in a senseless crime, aren't they all?), has to go to court everyday alone. Her husband Lloydie has kind of checked out of life. Lloydie can see no benefit in going to court. He refuses to go to support Marcia, in spite of her really wanting him to go with her. The reason Marcia is putting herself through the painful motions of going to court each day is that she longs to understand the reason her sixteen year old son was murdered.
Marcia transforms throughout the story from a very prejudiced person, to a mother who sees her son's killer as just another neglected, fatherless almost victim of his own life circumstances. There is much more to this story that ultimately brings some comfort and redemption to Marcia and Lloydies life, but I will leave that to the reader to discover.
December 8, 2017
A short, dreary novel. Two stars seems too generous, but one star seems cruel. The story is well-written and features some memorable passages, but the story overall is forgettable. The ending is contrived and made me mad.
December 29, 2015
The Mother is another powerfully emotional novel by the very talented Yvvette Edwards. As with A Cupboard Full of Coats, her first novel, there's a tense, melancholy, sometimes angst feeling surrounding the story that makes it both beautiful and unbearable at some points. It's a reading that's made to make the reader dive into the world there exposed; to feel, agonize with the characters.
This is an amazing book, but it isn't an easy read. It is the worst possible nightmare to any parent, right there in each tragic detail, facing you. Daring you to look away. Different ways to cope—--or not to cope—--are shown; how life can keep going on after what was until then seen as the most meaningful factor is taken? How to force oneself to keep at least moving, giving the impression of being alive, if not really living?
If not for Ms. Edwards stunning wordsmith skills, it’'d be tempting not to read it, to keep on denying it can ever happen and read something lighter, to laugh with a less draining journey. However, once you start— reading--and yes, I think you really, really should—--you can’'t possibly stop. The author captures the readers from the beginning, magnificently delivering a story that feels real, that could actually be real, that will certainly bring real feelings.
Besides the hard, sorrowful subject, the main character—t--the mother who narrates the story--is not a very likable person. She is full of prejudices and yet claims against the prejudice she sees in others, while at the same time calling her sister (a much warmer and more reasonable character) paranoid for seeing the reality of social relations. She seems too self-involved in her own despair (with good reason; her tragedy has no comparison) and in her search for a meaning, for a why that may help calm her soul, may make her pain more bearable. She hurts people in her journey, knowingly or not. She judges too much, she assumes too much, she comes to too many conclusions based solely in her own perceptions. She is, to sum it up, human.
She'’s not the stoic, silent suffering, accepting mother one might expect after a tragedy—--and we are culturally taught that that is how a woman should behave in a situation like this--—so she shocks, which is brilliant. She is real, she has issues, she has defects, she reads real, she feels like a human being. She isn’'t always pleasant, she isn’'t always nice. She’'s hurting and trying so hard to find a reason for all the ache that she can'’t always listen to reason. She needs to cast blame upon someone, anyone, even herself and the perversity of feeling guilty when facing devastation is that, to a mother, guilt is always there. We face the sentiment on a daily basis so it feels normal. In a cruel way it even brings relief.
But she grows. The woman who starts narrating this book is not the same that ends her story .
I would like to express how immensely grateful I am to Edelweiss and the Publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book for review purposes. This fact did not affect my opinion in any way.
This is an amazing book, but it isn't an easy read. It is the worst possible nightmare to any parent, right there in each tragic detail, facing you. Daring you to look away. Different ways to cope—--or not to cope—--are shown; how life can keep going on after what was until then seen as the most meaningful factor is taken? How to force oneself to keep at least moving, giving the impression of being alive, if not really living?
If not for Ms. Edwards stunning wordsmith skills, it’'d be tempting not to read it, to keep on denying it can ever happen and read something lighter, to laugh with a less draining journey. However, once you start— reading--and yes, I think you really, really should—--you can’'t possibly stop. The author captures the readers from the beginning, magnificently delivering a story that feels real, that could actually be real, that will certainly bring real feelings.
Besides the hard, sorrowful subject, the main character—t--the mother who narrates the story--is not a very likable person. She is full of prejudices and yet claims against the prejudice she sees in others, while at the same time calling her sister (a much warmer and more reasonable character) paranoid for seeing the reality of social relations. She seems too self-involved in her own despair (with good reason; her tragedy has no comparison) and in her search for a meaning, for a why that may help calm her soul, may make her pain more bearable. She hurts people in her journey, knowingly or not. She judges too much, she assumes too much, she comes to too many conclusions based solely in her own perceptions. She is, to sum it up, human.
She'’s not the stoic, silent suffering, accepting mother one might expect after a tragedy—--and we are culturally taught that that is how a woman should behave in a situation like this--—so she shocks, which is brilliant. She is real, she has issues, she has defects, she reads real, she feels like a human being. She isn’'t always pleasant, she isn’'t always nice. She’'s hurting and trying so hard to find a reason for all the ache that she can'’t always listen to reason. She needs to cast blame upon someone, anyone, even herself and the perversity of feeling guilty when facing devastation is that, to a mother, guilt is always there. We face the sentiment on a daily basis so it feels normal. In a cruel way it even brings relief.
But she grows. The woman who starts narrating this book is not the same that ends her story .
I would like to express how immensely grateful I am to Edelweiss and the Publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book for review purposes. This fact did not affect my opinion in any way.
May 15, 2016
*** Please note... Spoiler alerts! ***
This book just tears the heart out of any parent. Ryan is a sixteen year old black boy who gets killed with a knife by another black boy and at first there is absolutely no explanation why. The story basically starts about seven months after the killing, at the beginning of the trial of Tyson, the accused. Marcia, Ryan's mom, tries throughout the book to make sense of the death of her son, while his father, Lloyd, almost withdrew into himself completely. Marcia's struggle is the struggle of every mother that has ever lost a child, more so lost a child through a violent death that was untimely and unneccessary. I want to quote certain sections from the book that touched me deeply.
Marcia remembers Ryan as a baby... "I close my eyes, see him again at that adorable age; sausage arms and legs and fat cheeks so delicious. It washes over me again, a familiar rolling wave of grief, never smaller or less or more manageable, regular and constant as the tide. What has happened can never be undone and it is the fact that it can never be undone that means it will never be okay."
The story is based in London, UK, and it made me realise that racial discrimination is alive and well all over the world, not only in my country, South Africa. As the trial progresses, Marcia begins to learn something of the life of the accused and others involved with him. "I kept my little family safe. I concerned myself with me and the people closest to me. I read about young people, crime, knives, gangs, guns, killings over nonsense, but they were nothing to do with the tiny safe haven I thought I'd created to insulate myself and mine. I have never done a single thing in my life for anyone like Tyson Manley or Sweetie. I have given money to help refugees and political prisoners abroad... and not only have I never given a penny or a minute of my time to make a difference, but the thought has never even crossed my mind. The only reason I'm even thinking about it now is because that underworld out there has crashed in irrevocably on my own. If it hadn't, I would still be oblivious now."
As the trial proceeds, Marcia realises that there are children out there who is in a constant war and that they know no other life as that of survival as a priority. A generation that has no moral compass apart from being the strongest of their generation, being it through lies, murder or rape. This gets confirmed when the defence asks the accused what is his dreams for himself for his future. Tyson answers: "To be alive still, when I'm older." This is heartbreaking. At seventeen that is a young person's only dream for his future. To stay alive. And I can draw a parrallel between Tyson's life and so many forgotten youth in South Africa as well. Where everyday they battle just to stay alive.
Marcia's words in her Victim Personal Statement at the end of the trial is: "You said your dream was to be alive when you're older. My son is no longer alive, but he would approve of your dream. He wanted the same thing, not just for himself, but for every living thing, and that would have included you. With Ryan in mind, I hope your dream comes true. I also hope with all my heart that one day you will come to understand what you have done, but I know you can never understand what you have done till you learned to care. And for that reason, my greatest wish for you is love."
This book just tears the heart out of any parent. Ryan is a sixteen year old black boy who gets killed with a knife by another black boy and at first there is absolutely no explanation why. The story basically starts about seven months after the killing, at the beginning of the trial of Tyson, the accused. Marcia, Ryan's mom, tries throughout the book to make sense of the death of her son, while his father, Lloyd, almost withdrew into himself completely. Marcia's struggle is the struggle of every mother that has ever lost a child, more so lost a child through a violent death that was untimely and unneccessary. I want to quote certain sections from the book that touched me deeply.
Marcia remembers Ryan as a baby... "I close my eyes, see him again at that adorable age; sausage arms and legs and fat cheeks so delicious. It washes over me again, a familiar rolling wave of grief, never smaller or less or more manageable, regular and constant as the tide. What has happened can never be undone and it is the fact that it can never be undone that means it will never be okay."
The story is based in London, UK, and it made me realise that racial discrimination is alive and well all over the world, not only in my country, South Africa. As the trial progresses, Marcia begins to learn something of the life of the accused and others involved with him. "I kept my little family safe. I concerned myself with me and the people closest to me. I read about young people, crime, knives, gangs, guns, killings over nonsense, but they were nothing to do with the tiny safe haven I thought I'd created to insulate myself and mine. I have never done a single thing in my life for anyone like Tyson Manley or Sweetie. I have given money to help refugees and political prisoners abroad... and not only have I never given a penny or a minute of my time to make a difference, but the thought has never even crossed my mind. The only reason I'm even thinking about it now is because that underworld out there has crashed in irrevocably on my own. If it hadn't, I would still be oblivious now."
As the trial proceeds, Marcia realises that there are children out there who is in a constant war and that they know no other life as that of survival as a priority. A generation that has no moral compass apart from being the strongest of their generation, being it through lies, murder or rape. This gets confirmed when the defence asks the accused what is his dreams for himself for his future. Tyson answers: "To be alive still, when I'm older." This is heartbreaking. At seventeen that is a young person's only dream for his future. To stay alive. And I can draw a parrallel between Tyson's life and so many forgotten youth in South Africa as well. Where everyday they battle just to stay alive.
Marcia's words in her Victim Personal Statement at the end of the trial is: "You said your dream was to be alive when you're older. My son is no longer alive, but he would approve of your dream. He wanted the same thing, not just for himself, but for every living thing, and that would have included you. With Ryan in mind, I hope your dream comes true. I also hope with all my heart that one day you will come to understand what you have done, but I know you can never understand what you have done till you learned to care. And for that reason, my greatest wish for you is love."
May 27, 2016
Powerful & thought provoking...review part of TLC Book Tours
Marcia, 'The Mother', is forced to attend the trial of her son's killer without the support of her husband.
Lloydie, is devastated and unable to cope, or come to terms, with the death of his son. He withdraws evermore into his own solitary world, driving a wedge between him and his wife emotionally and physically.
Marcia, consumed by anger, resentment and the inability to share in each other's grief, slowly the gap between them widens and the rift in their relationship looks unrepairable.
As this heartbreaking story unfolds we learn a lot about each of the characters and their backgrounds, the comfortable lifestyle of Marcia and her family compared to that of the impoverished accused, Tyson Manley, and of Sweetie his alibi for the night of the killing. I don't want to say much more about these two but boy did I feel for Sweetie. I really felt for Sweetie.
The Mother is a powerful tale about a mother's loss of her 17 year old son who, after football practice one evening, is stabbed to death. The events are narrated in the present tense through Marcia's voice which has an incredibly intense, raw quality. I instantly felt a connection with her and was compelled to listen to what she had to tell me. Marcia recalls banter between herself and Ryan that reminded me of the all too familiar dialogue I often have with my own teen son. It was these moments that brought these characters alive for me.
On another level this novel had a particular hold over me due to it's setting and subject matter. In 2014, my friends sister was stabbed to death on her way to work one morning, I couldn't help but feel devastated once again for my friend and family as well as for this fictionalised family in 'The Mother'. Whilst the circumstances are not entirely the same there were enough similarities for the story to have an impact on me emotionally. Both victims were of similar ethnic background, both lived in London, both were horrifically stabbed to death for the most senseless motives. I found it difficult to continue reading initially and gave up at the 20% mark. However I'm glad to say I did go back to it after a day or so.
Yvvette Edwards has written a truly powerful, heartbreaking story of loss, about poverty and the lack of help or support for those living in deprived areas, of the grieving process, inconsolable anger, the utter devastation caused by one solitary mindless act, and the traumatic road one must travel in order to be able to come to terms and and make sense of the world in which loved ones no longer have a place.
Authentic and 'real', with a beautiful cover, I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Disclaimer: A complimentary copy of The Mother by Yvvette Edwards was provided by the publisher via TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest unbiased review.
Marcia, 'The Mother', is forced to attend the trial of her son's killer without the support of her husband.
Lloydie, is devastated and unable to cope, or come to terms, with the death of his son. He withdraws evermore into his own solitary world, driving a wedge between him and his wife emotionally and physically.
Marcia, consumed by anger, resentment and the inability to share in each other's grief, slowly the gap between them widens and the rift in their relationship looks unrepairable.
As this heartbreaking story unfolds we learn a lot about each of the characters and their backgrounds, the comfortable lifestyle of Marcia and her family compared to that of the impoverished accused, Tyson Manley, and of Sweetie his alibi for the night of the killing. I don't want to say much more about these two but boy did I feel for Sweetie. I really felt for Sweetie.
The Mother is a powerful tale about a mother's loss of her 17 year old son who, after football practice one evening, is stabbed to death. The events are narrated in the present tense through Marcia's voice which has an incredibly intense, raw quality. I instantly felt a connection with her and was compelled to listen to what she had to tell me. Marcia recalls banter between herself and Ryan that reminded me of the all too familiar dialogue I often have with my own teen son. It was these moments that brought these characters alive for me.
On another level this novel had a particular hold over me due to it's setting and subject matter. In 2014, my friends sister was stabbed to death on her way to work one morning, I couldn't help but feel devastated once again for my friend and family as well as for this fictionalised family in 'The Mother'. Whilst the circumstances are not entirely the same there were enough similarities for the story to have an impact on me emotionally. Both victims were of similar ethnic background, both lived in London, both were horrifically stabbed to death for the most senseless motives. I found it difficult to continue reading initially and gave up at the 20% mark. However I'm glad to say I did go back to it after a day or so.
Yvvette Edwards has written a truly powerful, heartbreaking story of loss, about poverty and the lack of help or support for those living in deprived areas, of the grieving process, inconsolable anger, the utter devastation caused by one solitary mindless act, and the traumatic road one must travel in order to be able to come to terms and and make sense of the world in which loved ones no longer have a place.
Authentic and 'real', with a beautiful cover, I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Disclaimer: A complimentary copy of The Mother by Yvvette Edwards was provided by the publisher via TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest unbiased review.
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May 24, 2017“Today is the first day of the trial of the man – well, boy, really – accused of the murder of our son and, as a result, instead of a regular cup of tea on the bedside table, it is a steaming act of phenomenal cowardice and I will not touch or drink it.”
Just this sentence at the end of the opening paragraph of The Mother made me stop, gasp and read it again to savour the intense distillation of emotion it represented.
The eponymous mother’s son has been murdered, stabbed to death by a boy his own age. The novel begins on the morning of the first day of the boy’s trial, and unfolds in a few short days. But as readers we are so tightly inside the head of the mother, living every heartbeat alongside her, that time seems to slow down.
The mother has done everything in her power to keep her son safe, in a world that is full of dangers. At one point she goes over in her mind the thousand and one things she did – that every mother does – to try and keep her child safe, from teaching him to tie his shoelaces to rehearsing every detail of his first solo trip on public transport.
“I read about young people, crime, knives, gangs, guns, killings over nonsense, but they were nothing to do with the tiny safe haven I thought I’d created to insulate myself and mine.”
Despite all the mother’s care, that other world has broken through and stolen her child. In the space of a few moments, her safe haven has been ripped apart and her world has collapsed to a point of grief. What she does not expect is that, during the course of the trial, that world would begin to open up again. Her understanding and her empathy expands and with it, ours.
The Mother is about the tragedy and outrage of having a loved one’s life stolen through violence. It’s a novel, set in England and revolving around knife crime, but the mother’s story stands alongside those of the young men dead from gun violence, researched and retold by Gary Younge in Another Day in the Death of America.
It is a book of extraordinary compassion. Compassion for the victims of crime, and the different ways it can affect different members of a family. And compassion for the children growing up in a wealthy first world country, and yet living in circumstances that are closer to those of a war zone. An important read for all of us who live in safe havens and blinker ourselves to those on the outside.
Just this sentence at the end of the opening paragraph of The Mother made me stop, gasp and read it again to savour the intense distillation of emotion it represented.
The eponymous mother’s son has been murdered, stabbed to death by a boy his own age. The novel begins on the morning of the first day of the boy’s trial, and unfolds in a few short days. But as readers we are so tightly inside the head of the mother, living every heartbeat alongside her, that time seems to slow down.
The mother has done everything in her power to keep her son safe, in a world that is full of dangers. At one point she goes over in her mind the thousand and one things she did – that every mother does – to try and keep her child safe, from teaching him to tie his shoelaces to rehearsing every detail of his first solo trip on public transport.
“I read about young people, crime, knives, gangs, guns, killings over nonsense, but they were nothing to do with the tiny safe haven I thought I’d created to insulate myself and mine.”
Despite all the mother’s care, that other world has broken through and stolen her child. In the space of a few moments, her safe haven has been ripped apart and her world has collapsed to a point of grief. What she does not expect is that, during the course of the trial, that world would begin to open up again. Her understanding and her empathy expands and with it, ours.
The Mother is about the tragedy and outrage of having a loved one’s life stolen through violence. It’s a novel, set in England and revolving around knife crime, but the mother’s story stands alongside those of the young men dead from gun violence, researched and retold by Gary Younge in Another Day in the Death of America.
It is a book of extraordinary compassion. Compassion for the victims of crime, and the different ways it can affect different members of a family. And compassion for the children growing up in a wealthy first world country, and yet living in circumstances that are closer to those of a war zone. An important read for all of us who live in safe havens and blinker ourselves to those on the outside.
May 10, 2017
Today, Marcia is heading to the Old Bailey. She's going there to do something no mother should ever have to do: attend the trial of the boy accused of her son's murder.
She's not meant to be that woman; Ryan, her son, wasn't that kind of boy. But Tyson Manley is that kind of a boy and, as his trial unfolds, it becomes clear that Marcia's greatest hope for closure lies with Manley's girlfriend, Sweetie. But can Sweetie be trusted?
Review :
I have been taking so many breaks in between posting reviews that I turn out to be detached from it for a long time. But I have picked myself up again because I have read some great books which I believe have the right to be reviewed. SO HERE IT IS...The first book I read in the middle of last month - The Mother.This book had me all emotional.
The story is about a mother, Marcia, whose child, Ryan has been snatced away from her cruely. As a result, her calm, polite husband has become frail and weak, his self confidence lowering gradually, their marriage collapsing. She desperately wants to know the reason that forced her dear son to get mudered. He was a sweetheart, who couldn't imagine even hurting anyone. Then why? Where did it all go wrong?
The story captured her journey towards the truth. As time passes and secrets unravel, the girl, Sweetie, whom she never approvedfor her boy, turns out to be not that rough, spoilt, cheap one she used to seem but someone for whom Marcia develops a liking. And moreover, Sweetie mother's a child whose father could possibly be Ryan's and this little speck of hope.
They all fight their way through the rough path and face the murderer, Tyson. A story that will break the reader's heart but will again pick up the pieces and give a new meaning to become stronger.
The story is one which teaches lessons worth remembering. Have you ever felt you emotions going numb? Feeling nothing? This book breaks that wall, makes the heart ache, makes one want to cry. A journey of hope, pain, numbness, wrath, love and new beginnings.
She's not meant to be that woman; Ryan, her son, wasn't that kind of boy. But Tyson Manley is that kind of a boy and, as his trial unfolds, it becomes clear that Marcia's greatest hope for closure lies with Manley's girlfriend, Sweetie. But can Sweetie be trusted?
Review :
I have been taking so many breaks in between posting reviews that I turn out to be detached from it for a long time. But I have picked myself up again because I have read some great books which I believe have the right to be reviewed. SO HERE IT IS...The first book I read in the middle of last month - The Mother.This book had me all emotional.
The story is about a mother, Marcia, whose child, Ryan has been snatced away from her cruely. As a result, her calm, polite husband has become frail and weak, his self confidence lowering gradually, their marriage collapsing. She desperately wants to know the reason that forced her dear son to get mudered. He was a sweetheart, who couldn't imagine even hurting anyone. Then why? Where did it all go wrong?
The story captured her journey towards the truth. As time passes and secrets unravel, the girl, Sweetie, whom she never approvedfor her boy, turns out to be not that rough, spoilt, cheap one she used to seem but someone for whom Marcia develops a liking. And moreover, Sweetie mother's a child whose father could possibly be Ryan's and this little speck of hope.
They all fight their way through the rough path and face the murderer, Tyson. A story that will break the reader's heart but will again pick up the pieces and give a new meaning to become stronger.
The story is one which teaches lessons worth remembering. Have you ever felt you emotions going numb? Feeling nothing? This book breaks that wall, makes the heart ache, makes one want to cry. A journey of hope, pain, numbness, wrath, love and new beginnings.
June 3, 2016
The Mother was kind of a difficult book to get through emotionally. Marcia's son has been murdered and the book opens as she prepares for the trial of his killer. Her marriage seems to be on the fritz and she can barely function on some days. The story follows her through the trial and gives you insight into her thoughts about everything going on around her.
This is a very emotional book. As a mother, I found it so heart wrenching. I can't imagine and hope I never to know what it would be like to lose a child in this way. The emotions that not only Marcia but her husband and sister displayed came across as very real to me. I liked that we get to see her inner thoughts about the killer, his mother, and the girlfriend. I could honestly see myself thinking the same thoughts. One of the scene that stuck with me the most was a commentary about the thoughtlessness of the media. When Marcia's sister tells the media off about not labeling the two boy's photos in the paper, I was cheering her on!
The only thing that I didn't really like about the book was the ending. I felt like her decision didn't feel right to me after all she had been through with the trial. It just didn't ring true. I also felt a bit cheated after going through it with her and having it be kind of open ended with no epilogue.
This is a quick read, but one that will stick with you for a long time. I do recommend giving this one a try. I look forward to reading more from this author.
This is a very emotional book. As a mother, I found it so heart wrenching. I can't imagine and hope I never to know what it would be like to lose a child in this way. The emotions that not only Marcia but her husband and sister displayed came across as very real to me. I liked that we get to see her inner thoughts about the killer, his mother, and the girlfriend. I could honestly see myself thinking the same thoughts. One of the scene that stuck with me the most was a commentary about the thoughtlessness of the media. When Marcia's sister tells the media off about not labeling the two boy's photos in the paper, I was cheering her on!
The only thing that I didn't really like about the book was the ending. I felt like her decision didn't feel right to me after all she had been through with the trial. It just didn't ring true. I also felt a bit cheated after going through it with her and having it be kind of open ended with no epilogue.
This is a quick read, but one that will stick with you for a long time. I do recommend giving this one a try. I look forward to reading more from this author.
August 9, 2017
Edwards explores motherhood, specifically mothers of sons, through an incident of fatal violence between two older teens. The novel begins just as the trial is set to start. Marcia, mother of the victim, feels compelled to be present at the trial because she owes it to her son. Her husband refuses to go so Marcia relies on her sister and other friends for support. She hopes the trial will finally answer some of her questions and bring a sense of closure. Marcia's anger, frustration, and sorrow are palpable as the trial forces her to acknowledge her own failings as a mother. But there's plenty of blame to go around, not the least of which is the murderer and his mother who show a remarkable lack of concern about the case. This contemporary story explores many issues but the writing is compelling and easy to read. Thought-provoking literary fiction that is surprisingly a page-turner.
May 11, 2019
Marcia’s son Ryan has been murdered, and the trial of the accused killer is finally starting. In the months leading up to the trial, Marcia’s life has unraveled. She is physically a wreck, nearly a walking skeleton. Her husband can’t cope with the loss of their son and distances himself from her emotionally. As she searches for answers as to why this accused boy murdered her son, the reader becomes acquainted with the life the accused led and how the paths of the victim and the killer became entangled. The author paints a compelling story of how some young men want to help people while others kill with seemingly no reason or thought or remorse. Good character development adds much to the depth of this novel.
December 24, 2021
The Mother takes space over a few days and focuses on a trial for the murder of sixteen-year-old Ryan. Ryan's mother Marce is grieving the loss of her only son who was murdered during a knife attack on his way home from football practice.
The Mother is not just a court drama. We witness it through Marce's eyes who gives her perspective on everything going on around her as it unfolds. Yvette is an excellent writer and how she portrays her characters is so human and emotional.
It focuses on the harsh poverty and neglect many children face. Marce questions how their upbringing could change the course of one's actions. It is perfectly coordinated and inspires the reader to form an understanding with the verdict.
The Mother is not just a court drama. We witness it through Marce's eyes who gives her perspective on everything going on around her as it unfolds. Yvette is an excellent writer and how she portrays her characters is so human and emotional.
It focuses on the harsh poverty and neglect many children face. Marce questions how their upbringing could change the course of one's actions. It is perfectly coordinated and inspires the reader to form an understanding with the verdict.
August 7, 2020
When her son’s murderer comes to trial, Marcia feels compelled to attend but her husband can’t bring himself to. Before the trial, everything was cut and dried in Marcia’s mind but things change as she learns about the people involved.
Even though there isn’t a lot of action in this book, I found it compelling. I became attached to the characters and felt Marcia’s anguish and dread and hoped she would find closure. The book is thought provoking and timely. The ending was very satisfying and made me cry so be sure to have tissues handy.
Even though there isn’t a lot of action in this book, I found it compelling. I became attached to the characters and felt Marcia’s anguish and dread and hoped she would find closure. The book is thought provoking and timely. The ending was very satisfying and made me cry so be sure to have tissues handy.
July 21, 2016
Incredibly timely novel dealing with a black mother's coming to terms with the senseless loss of her teenaged son.Beautifully moving it explores the myriad emotions she faces as she goes to trial and view's her son's killer.This novel was an exploration of grief, its effect on a marriage, and the triad of poverty, violence and lack of parenting that affect the development of our youth . I hope this does not fall under the radar as it was too good and too important to be missed.
July 25, 2016
I really enjoyed this book about a mother who is forced to rethink things during the murder trial of the man who killed her son. It is an interesting portrait in grief and the audio book had me sitting in my car, waiting to hear what happened next.
June 29, 2016
I really want to give this 3.75 stars but this ain't Star Search so here we are .
January 15, 2019
While I think this is a decent story written about grief, racism and other important issues in society today, the writing was just missing something for me. It was good, but not great.
November 10, 2025
such a beautifully written, tragic story based on a reality that's very much of our time
July 6, 2016
This book was hard to read. It probably is for every mother, it has got to be the worst nightmare we all have. Marcia of this book lives it. She has lost her 16 years old son, Ryan, to violent murder by another 16 year old. Ryan was the type of boy who never hurt anything, and that he was murdered seems unthinkable to Marcia. Seven months after the fact, still not used to the idea, she starts attending the trial for his murder trying to understand why Tyler Manley stabbed him with a knife. If she's obsessed, her husband is worse. Lloydie is depressed, and he refuses to acknowledge anything to do with Ryan's death.
Marcia's grief was real to me, her anger, her spite, her judgment, everything. I can't say I'd be any better than she herself is. I've thought through every unsafe situation that Marcia was trying to prepare her son for. I still haven't put any of my training into practice, considering my son is two, but it doesn't mean that I haven't thought it. I don't agree with some of the stuff - at one point Marcia mourns that she didn't have Ryan learn martial arts, and her sister argues that that would have taught him to hate. But even when I disagreed with some of the things, I still connected to the sentiment behind it.
I liked it, in a sense, until some weirdness kicked in. Specifically, Sweetie and the . It just... made the book hopeful, not in a more realistic "we're always going to mourn Ryan, but life goes on" way, but a more grasping way. It's hard to explain, and I'm probably over-reading it, but it made me feel sorry for Sweetie. It also made it hard to take her victim personal statement addendum seriously, she says she wishes that Tyler stays alive, and finds love and thereby begins to care about what he did. I found a couple of problems with this. Does he really not love his mother though? Or his little brother? You could be a monster but still love a small circle, you'd need a massive attitude shift to actually love every living thing as Ryan did. But mostly, I wondered is she would have been so broad minded if there wasn't a prospect of a and a renewed relationship with her husband? If her life was still in pieces? Maybe, but if she had arrived at this statement independently, I would have trusted her more.
Marcia's grief was real to me, her anger, her spite, her judgment, everything. I can't say I'd be any better than she herself is. I've thought through every unsafe situation that Marcia was trying to prepare her son for. I still haven't put any of my training into practice, considering my son is two, but it doesn't mean that I haven't thought it. I don't agree with some of the stuff - at one point Marcia mourns that she didn't have Ryan learn martial arts, and her sister argues that that would have taught him to hate. But even when I disagreed with some of the things, I still connected to the sentiment behind it.
I liked it, in a sense, until some weirdness kicked in. Specifically, Sweetie and the . It just... made the book hopeful, not in a more realistic "we're always going to mourn Ryan, but life goes on" way, but a more grasping way. It's hard to explain, and I'm probably over-reading it, but it made me feel sorry for Sweetie. It also made it hard to take her victim personal statement addendum seriously, she says she wishes that Tyler stays alive, and finds love and thereby begins to care about what he did. I found a couple of problems with this. Does he really not love his mother though? Or his little brother? You could be a monster but still love a small circle, you'd need a massive attitude shift to actually love every living thing as Ryan did. But mostly, I wondered is she would have been so broad minded if there wasn't a prospect of a and a renewed relationship with her husband? If her life was still in pieces? Maybe, but if she had arrived at this statement independently, I would have trusted her more.
May 14, 2016
As a trial unfolds, a London woman must focus on the details of her sixteen-year-old son’s violent murder. Barely coping and subsisting on drinks and pills, Marcia Williams learns details about her son Ryan’s death and about the accused killer, a teenager named Tyson. While attending the trial with her sister, Marcia’s husband flees the house early each day and the two barely communicate with one another. Every mother thinks she knows her child until the worst happens. Marcia discovers some surprising aspects to his life during the trial. Inevitably she scrutinizes Tyson while comparing him to her scholar-athlete son. She also compares herself and her family to Tyson’s mother and Tyson’s family. How will she come to terms with her son’s death? Will she be able to manage her own grief and salvage her marriage?
Author Yvvette Edwards thoughtfully and thoroughly examines black on black crime. She deals with race and class in London in a classic good vs. evil match-up of star athlete and student planning to attend college vs. delinquent street hustler. Whether black or white or living in a city or the suburbs or a mother or child-free, readers can relate to this family tragedy. The comparison between the two teenagers proves quite interesting. Viewing a trial from a mother's perspective also captivating. The novel falls a bit short in lingering on Marcia’s wilting relationship with her husband rather than focusing on the murder and trial. Despite the writing, the story proved more predictable than expected. The ending did not sit well with me either. After all that stress and reflection, why did Marcia make that decision?
--review by Amy Steele
published here: https://entertainmentrealm.com/2016/0...
Author Yvvette Edwards thoughtfully and thoroughly examines black on black crime. She deals with race and class in London in a classic good vs. evil match-up of star athlete and student planning to attend college vs. delinquent street hustler. Whether black or white or living in a city or the suburbs or a mother or child-free, readers can relate to this family tragedy. The comparison between the two teenagers proves quite interesting. Viewing a trial from a mother's perspective also captivating. The novel falls a bit short in lingering on Marcia’s wilting relationship with her husband rather than focusing on the murder and trial. Despite the writing, the story proved more predictable than expected. The ending did not sit well with me either. After all that stress and reflection, why did Marcia make that decision?
--review by Amy Steele
published here: https://entertainmentrealm.com/2016/0...
July 25, 2016
I received a hardcover edition of this from a Goodreads Giveaway.
When Marcia's son is murdered, her world is turned upside down. This was an excellent insight into the mind of the mother, and all that she went through, trying to figure out what happened with her son. Why? Was he in the wrong place at the wrong time? A victim of circumstance? Had he kept secrets from her? An exploratory into the inner turmoil one goes through with the death of a child.
More than the self imposed emotionally beating herself up, did she miss something, and all the what ifs ~ this is a book on the society of our young people. Have they grown accustomed to the violence? Is violence the answer? Where are the parents in this? What kind of parenting is there? Or lack of it? What are we, as a society, doing to prevent this violence? Can we stop it? What is our responsibility?
I thought this was such an excellent book, and highly recommend it.
I was so awestruck by the emotional roller coaster of emotions, that I had to write the author, and ask if she had been this situation. Only someone who has lived through this, could write as excellent as this. Ms Edwards was so very kind and responded to me. Here is the link to the background for this story: http://www.bookclubgirl.com/book_club....
I donated this copy to my local library for them to shelve.
When Marcia's son is murdered, her world is turned upside down. This was an excellent insight into the mind of the mother, and all that she went through, trying to figure out what happened with her son. Why? Was he in the wrong place at the wrong time? A victim of circumstance? Had he kept secrets from her? An exploratory into the inner turmoil one goes through with the death of a child.
More than the self imposed emotionally beating herself up, did she miss something, and all the what ifs ~ this is a book on the society of our young people. Have they grown accustomed to the violence? Is violence the answer? Where are the parents in this? What kind of parenting is there? Or lack of it? What are we, as a society, doing to prevent this violence? Can we stop it? What is our responsibility?
I thought this was such an excellent book, and highly recommend it.
I was so awestruck by the emotional roller coaster of emotions, that I had to write the author, and ask if she had been this situation. Only someone who has lived through this, could write as excellent as this. Ms Edwards was so very kind and responded to me. Here is the link to the background for this story: http://www.bookclubgirl.com/book_club....
I donated this copy to my local library for them to shelve.
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