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Motherland
'I hadn't expected the Berlin Wall to be clean and white and smooth. It looked more like the edge of the swimming baths than the edge of the Cold War. On the grass of No-man's Land, fat rabbits ate and strolled about as if they'd never been hunted and nothing could disturb them. This was their land and they ruled it, and there were three parts to Berlin: East, West and Rabbit.'
It is 1978, Jess is thirteen and she already has a reputation - as the daughter of the only communist in town. But then, it's in the blood. The Mitchells have been in the Party since the Party began. Jess and her mother Eleanor struggle to sell socialism to Tamworth - a sleepy Midlands town that just doesn't want to know.
So when Eleanor is invited to spend a summer teaching in East Germany, she and Jess leap at the chance to see what the future looks like. On the other side of the Iron Curtain they turn from villains into heroes. And when Eleanor meets widower Peter and his daughter, Martina, a new, more peaceful life seems possible.
But the Cold War has no time for love and soon the trouble starts. Peter is dispatched for two years of solidarity work in Laos. Friends become enemies, and Jess discovers how easy it is to switch sides, and how sides can be switched for you, sometimes without you even knowing.
Motherland is a tender mother-daughter story and a tragi-comic portrait of a childhood overcome with belief. It's about loss of faith and loss of innocence, and what it's like to grow up on the losing side of history.
It is 1978, Jess is thirteen and she already has a reputation - as the daughter of the only communist in town. But then, it's in the blood. The Mitchells have been in the Party since the Party began. Jess and her mother Eleanor struggle to sell socialism to Tamworth - a sleepy Midlands town that just doesn't want to know.
So when Eleanor is invited to spend a summer teaching in East Germany, she and Jess leap at the chance to see what the future looks like. On the other side of the Iron Curtain they turn from villains into heroes. And when Eleanor meets widower Peter and his daughter, Martina, a new, more peaceful life seems possible.
But the Cold War has no time for love and soon the trouble starts. Peter is dispatched for two years of solidarity work in Laos. Friends become enemies, and Jess discovers how easy it is to switch sides, and how sides can be switched for you, sometimes without you even knowing.
Motherland is a tender mother-daughter story and a tragi-comic portrait of a childhood overcome with belief. It's about loss of faith and loss of innocence, and what it's like to grow up on the losing side of history.
260 pages, Paperback
First published July 2, 2015
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165 people want to read
About the author
Jo McMillan
3 books5 followersJo McMillan is the author of three novels. Her first, 'Motherland', won an Arts Council Individual Literature Award and was featured on BBC radio. 'The Happiness Factory' – about men, money and power – draws on the many years Jo lived in China. 'The Accidental Immigrants', Finalist for the 2025 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, is a story, witnessed first-hand, of the hostile environment spreading across Europe and what it’s like to be caught up in it.
Jo’s writing has appeared in, among others, the Guardian, Granta, Metro, China Review and the Times Higher Education Supplement. She published her PhD as Sex, Science and Morality in China with Routledge.
She has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and on BBC Radio Scotland, at the Leipzig Book Fair, as a guest of Dulwich Books, and at the Wilderness Festival.
Jo’s writing has appeared in, among others, the Guardian, Granta, Metro, China Review and the Times Higher Education Supplement. She published her PhD as Sex, Science and Morality in China with Routledge.
She has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and on BBC Radio Scotland, at the Leipzig Book Fair, as a guest of Dulwich Books, and at the Wilderness Festival.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
March 16, 2015
A moving mother-daughter tale of belief, doubt and loss of innocence.
It’s 1978 and thirteen year old Jess Mitchell is the daughter of one of the few communists in Tamworth, a sleepy Midlands town. Jess and her mother Eleanor valiantly try to sell “The Morning Star” newspaper and socialism to Saturday shoppers in the local precinct.
Via Party contacts Jess’s mother is invited to spend a summer teaching in East Germany, and she and Jess leap at the chance to see what “real existing socialism” looks like. In East Berlin her mother meets widower Peter and his daughter, Martina and a world of new possibilities seem possible.
However, the East German State disapproves of the relationship and Peter is dispatched for two years of "solidarity" work in Laos. Jess discovers how friends can become enemies and the consequences non-cooperation with the State.
The book is apparently based to some degree on the author’s own experiences and the descriptions of extreme left wing politics of the early 80’s certainly ring true. Her descriptions of East Berlin and the GDR show a detailed knowledge of not only the locations, but also the way the GDR state worked to ensure total cooperation.
Jo McMillan has written an excellent moving story that works well on various levels. The book provides some great insight into life in the UK and the GDR in the early 80s, with the Party and the GDR state casting an increasingly insidious shadow as the story progresses. However, what holds the book together is the relationship between Jess and her mother and particularly the heart wrenching belief her mother has in the benevolence of the GDR State regardless of the cruelty dealt to her own personal happiness.
The final scenes will stay with me for some time…
It’s 1978 and thirteen year old Jess Mitchell is the daughter of one of the few communists in Tamworth, a sleepy Midlands town. Jess and her mother Eleanor valiantly try to sell “The Morning Star” newspaper and socialism to Saturday shoppers in the local precinct.
Via Party contacts Jess’s mother is invited to spend a summer teaching in East Germany, and she and Jess leap at the chance to see what “real existing socialism” looks like. In East Berlin her mother meets widower Peter and his daughter, Martina and a world of new possibilities seem possible.
However, the East German State disapproves of the relationship and Peter is dispatched for two years of "solidarity" work in Laos. Jess discovers how friends can become enemies and the consequences non-cooperation with the State.
The book is apparently based to some degree on the author’s own experiences and the descriptions of extreme left wing politics of the early 80’s certainly ring true. Her descriptions of East Berlin and the GDR show a detailed knowledge of not only the locations, but also the way the GDR state worked to ensure total cooperation.
Jo McMillan has written an excellent moving story that works well on various levels. The book provides some great insight into life in the UK and the GDR in the early 80s, with the Party and the GDR state casting an increasingly insidious shadow as the story progresses. However, what holds the book together is the relationship between Jess and her mother and particularly the heart wrenching belief her mother has in the benevolence of the GDR State regardless of the cruelty dealt to her own personal happiness.
The final scenes will stay with me for some time…
August 1, 2016
I hunted this book down. I made Waterstone's staff search through their incredible wealth of book knowledge to find this novel based on a barely remembered blurb description. And I didn't like it.
'Motherland' is about a teenager- Jess, and her mother- Eleanor, communists trying to to provide socialism to the resistant town of Tamworth in 1978. They are invited to spend a summer teaching in East Germany but the ideal they have been working for starts to tarnish in Jess' eyes as trouble starts. The story is narrated by Jess, who is frustratingly naive. Yes, she is meant to be but she doesn't really ever feel like a teenager. Though her whole life is designed to be a rebellion against capitalism, she never seems to emotionally connect or rebel against the world as teenagers do; there is no sign of even small scale rebellion against her mother, or a sense that she believes passionately in anything. She is just a naive narrator describing the events around her until the finale, which meant I struggled to empathise with her.
Another issue I had with the book was the introduction of Martina, the girl Jess meets in East Germany and forms a longer connection with as a relationship develops between Eleanor and Martina's father. Martina was by far the most interesting character in the story. She endeavours to awaken Jess to the reality of the GDR through a series of symbolic postcards. Martina's story seemed the most interesting and the novel would have really been enhanced by the addition of her story and narration. Jess' naivety may have been less of an irritant if it was juxtaposed by Martina's passion and doubts, as well as widening the scope of the narrative. It could be argued that there have been plenty of films and books analysing that side of the iron curtain, but being stuck with the characters in Tamworth meant it felt as if the more interesting story was occurring elsewhere. I also expected the relationship between Jess and Martina to develop further. There are hints that Jess idolises Martina in a way that is not purely platonic. There was a moment where I felt that the book was finally going to provide Jess with her passion. But it wasn't to be.
The redeeming feature of 'Motherland' is the relationship between mother and daughter, and the fleeting moments where Jess begins to question the small, insignificant things her mother says, ready for her to learn to question the larger story she has been told. I was particularly impressed by the beautiful moment near the end of the book where Jess muses on her mother's disbelief in the individuality of each snowflake. A woman who believes wholeheartedly in the collective finds it impossible to face the truth, even when she has the greater reason to be disheartened and questioning.
Overall, I found it difficult to review the book on its merits without desperately wishing for more. The story was hindered by its singular narration and dense description, but the differing views of mother and daughter over time was very bittersweet.
'Motherland' is about a teenager- Jess, and her mother- Eleanor, communists trying to to provide socialism to the resistant town of Tamworth in 1978. They are invited to spend a summer teaching in East Germany but the ideal they have been working for starts to tarnish in Jess' eyes as trouble starts. The story is narrated by Jess, who is frustratingly naive. Yes, she is meant to be but she doesn't really ever feel like a teenager. Though her whole life is designed to be a rebellion against capitalism, she never seems to emotionally connect or rebel against the world as teenagers do; there is no sign of even small scale rebellion against her mother, or a sense that she believes passionately in anything. She is just a naive narrator describing the events around her until the finale, which meant I struggled to empathise with her.
Another issue I had with the book was the introduction of Martina, the girl Jess meets in East Germany and forms a longer connection with as a relationship develops between Eleanor and Martina's father. Martina was by far the most interesting character in the story. She endeavours to awaken Jess to the reality of the GDR through a series of symbolic postcards. Martina's story seemed the most interesting and the novel would have really been enhanced by the addition of her story and narration. Jess' naivety may have been less of an irritant if it was juxtaposed by Martina's passion and doubts, as well as widening the scope of the narrative. It could be argued that there have been plenty of films and books analysing that side of the iron curtain, but being stuck with the characters in Tamworth meant it felt as if the more interesting story was occurring elsewhere. I also expected the relationship between Jess and Martina to develop further. There are hints that Jess idolises Martina in a way that is not purely platonic. There was a moment where I felt that the book was finally going to provide Jess with her passion. But it wasn't to be.
The redeeming feature of 'Motherland' is the relationship between mother and daughter, and the fleeting moments where Jess begins to question the small, insignificant things her mother says, ready for her to learn to question the larger story she has been told. I was particularly impressed by the beautiful moment near the end of the book where Jess muses on her mother's disbelief in the individuality of each snowflake. A woman who believes wholeheartedly in the collective finds it impossible to face the truth, even when she has the greater reason to be disheartened and questioning.
Overall, I found it difficult to review the book on its merits without desperately wishing for more. The story was hindered by its singular narration and dense description, but the differing views of mother and daughter over time was very bittersweet.
March 13, 2017
I had high hopes for this book, I love ostalgie and the GDR, but this just didn't cut it in my view.
I didn't feel like the characters were very well developed and I didn't feel it entirely reflected reality. I mean, in what world does a 13 year old want to follow what her mother says to the absolute letter?
I didn't feel like the characters were very well developed and I didn't feel it entirely reflected reality. I mean, in what world does a 13 year old want to follow what her mother says to the absolute letter?
December 5, 2017
Motherland' by Jo McMillan is a pretty unusual novel (more of a memoir), as it is based around the author's experience of growing up with a staunchly communist mother, who began a 'relationship' of sorts with Communist Germany (German Democratic Republic or GDR) when the Berlin Wall was in place and it was pretty unwise to do so.
GDR memoir style novels are, understandably, a thing, it's been almost thirty years since the Berlin Wall fell and East Germans people are starting to process this period in history and confront the past; there is Stasi Land by Anna Funder, which looks at how Stasi oppression destroyed lives, Sonnenallee, a nostalgic but emotional comedy about growing up literally in the shadow of the Berlin Wall and the internationally successful film, Goodbye Lenin, a tragicomedy, which looks at the innocence of German Socialism twinned with the ruinous effect it had on ordinary lives, aswell as the fairly recent TV series 'Deutschland 83' which looks at the cold war aspect of things. There is even a phenomenon in the former East called 'Ostalgie' ,whereby people nostalgize the good part of their GDR
I was incredibly excited to read this as I spent some time living in Leipzig and Erfurt, two former GDR cities and as friends, teachers and colleagues shared their personal history of the GDR, I became intrigued. What was this place like? The clues were in the kitsch furniture that still cluttered flats and cafes, the abandoned factories and the practically abandoned towns. The prefabricated tower blocks. The sensible, thrifty attitude of older people I met. The people I encountered who spoke fluent Russian and had former links with Vietnam and Cuba. Even the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, grew up in this world. I have only met a handful of people (IRL) who traveled into East Germany from Berlin, so I was hoping Jo might throw a bit of an interesting light on all of this.
Sadly, this book didn't really work for me and I have very mixed feelings about it.
I think it was a mistake not to write it as either a historical YA, focusing on Jess's experiences, or as a memoir, reflecting on her experiences with an adult's knowledge. Instead it falls somewhere in between and this isn't really satisfactory.
Jess, our main character, is the most boring teenager to ever appear on paper. She happily spends all her free time selling a Communist newspaper or attending meetings with adults in the Communist party. Apart from a brief half-arsed attempt to defect to East Germany, Jess doesn't seem to know what rebellion means. Quite ironic really, given how often she reads Marxist theory. She has no peers apart from the elusive Martina, who is surprisingly not interested in her friendship. There was a missed opportunity to create a more interesting protagonist here.
Eleanor, Jess's mother, is even more frustrating. I really wanted to shake her out of her romantic Socialist world. She is a charming character but dangerously out of step with reality. She ignores anything that doesn't fit in with her passion for Communism; she ignores the Prague spring, Soviet proxy war in Afghanistan and has no scruples about cosying up to the GDR authorities so that she can experience 'Socialism in action' and live out this romantic fairytale. I hope Jeremy Corbyn didn't spend the late 70's/early 80's in this bubble!
Eleanor is a real warning that we should never get too blinkered in our political views. She doesn't allow Jess to have her own identity (not that Jess craves one for most of the novel, I think she is doing busy being the adult in the relationship) and this is so sad. It's like how not to parent.
Eleanor starts an ill-advised relationship with one of her GDR colleagues, Peter and obsesses about him throughout the year. What is annoying is that she seems to have no qualms about contacting him frequently from the UK, which basically endangers his safety and brings him under suspicion (or she is the most naive person ever!)
There are some well-painted characters in this. My favourite character was Martina. She is under no allusions as to the restrictive life she faces living in the GDR. The best scenes were with her too, we are introduced to a non-chalant Martina on top of the Belrin Fernsehturm, there is an honest ferris wheel ride with Jess after a propaganda-filled visit to the Berlin Soviet Memorial and the scene in the lake where she tries to subtly confront Jess about how she hates living in the GDR is really affecting. I thought more could have been made of the relationship between the girls. Chapters from Martina's point of view would have been brilliant! Another great character was Saskia, she is a party member involved in the GDR summer course. She always wears white and is a bit of a villainess and there are subtle hints about her mysterious World War 2 past. Nothing more about her though!
I have been harsh here because this book had so much potential, the material itself is brilliant and is a good but not complete insight into GDR life but it just did not work for me, having said this some of the writing is really good and I genuinely read compulsively to find out how the story was resolved in the end. I would have enjoyed it more if the imbalance in the relationship between mother and daughter was addressed and if the characters had developed somewhat. All in all, it is still an interesting read for those interested in modern German history.
GDR memoir style novels are, understandably, a thing, it's been almost thirty years since the Berlin Wall fell and East Germans people are starting to process this period in history and confront the past; there is Stasi Land by Anna Funder, which looks at how Stasi oppression destroyed lives, Sonnenallee, a nostalgic but emotional comedy about growing up literally in the shadow of the Berlin Wall and the internationally successful film, Goodbye Lenin, a tragicomedy, which looks at the innocence of German Socialism twinned with the ruinous effect it had on ordinary lives, aswell as the fairly recent TV series 'Deutschland 83' which looks at the cold war aspect of things. There is even a phenomenon in the former East called 'Ostalgie' ,whereby people nostalgize the good part of their GDR
I was incredibly excited to read this as I spent some time living in Leipzig and Erfurt, two former GDR cities and as friends, teachers and colleagues shared their personal history of the GDR, I became intrigued. What was this place like? The clues were in the kitsch furniture that still cluttered flats and cafes, the abandoned factories and the practically abandoned towns. The prefabricated tower blocks. The sensible, thrifty attitude of older people I met. The people I encountered who spoke fluent Russian and had former links with Vietnam and Cuba. Even the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, grew up in this world. I have only met a handful of people (IRL) who traveled into East Germany from Berlin, so I was hoping Jo might throw a bit of an interesting light on all of this.
Sadly, this book didn't really work for me and I have very mixed feelings about it.
I think it was a mistake not to write it as either a historical YA, focusing on Jess's experiences, or as a memoir, reflecting on her experiences with an adult's knowledge. Instead it falls somewhere in between and this isn't really satisfactory.
Jess, our main character, is the most boring teenager to ever appear on paper. She happily spends all her free time selling a Communist newspaper or attending meetings with adults in the Communist party. Apart from a brief half-arsed attempt to defect to East Germany, Jess doesn't seem to know what rebellion means. Quite ironic really, given how often she reads Marxist theory. She has no peers apart from the elusive Martina, who is surprisingly not interested in her friendship. There was a missed opportunity to create a more interesting protagonist here.
Eleanor, Jess's mother, is even more frustrating. I really wanted to shake her out of her romantic Socialist world. She is a charming character but dangerously out of step with reality. She ignores anything that doesn't fit in with her passion for Communism; she ignores the Prague spring, Soviet proxy war in Afghanistan and has no scruples about cosying up to the GDR authorities so that she can experience 'Socialism in action' and live out this romantic fairytale. I hope Jeremy Corbyn didn't spend the late 70's/early 80's in this bubble!
Eleanor is a real warning that we should never get too blinkered in our political views. She doesn't allow Jess to have her own identity (not that Jess craves one for most of the novel, I think she is doing busy being the adult in the relationship) and this is so sad. It's like how not to parent.
Eleanor starts an ill-advised relationship with one of her GDR colleagues, Peter and obsesses about him throughout the year. What is annoying is that she seems to have no qualms about contacting him frequently from the UK, which basically endangers his safety and brings him under suspicion (or she is the most naive person ever!)
There are some well-painted characters in this. My favourite character was Martina. She is under no allusions as to the restrictive life she faces living in the GDR. The best scenes were with her too, we are introduced to a non-chalant Martina on top of the Belrin Fernsehturm, there is an honest ferris wheel ride with Jess after a propaganda-filled visit to the Berlin Soviet Memorial and the scene in the lake where she tries to subtly confront Jess about how she hates living in the GDR is really affecting. I thought more could have been made of the relationship between the girls. Chapters from Martina's point of view would have been brilliant! Another great character was Saskia, she is a party member involved in the GDR summer course. She always wears white and is a bit of a villainess and there are subtle hints about her mysterious World War 2 past. Nothing more about her though!
I have been harsh here because this book had so much potential, the material itself is brilliant and is a good but not complete insight into GDR life but it just did not work for me, having said this some of the writing is really good and I genuinely read compulsively to find out how the story was resolved in the end. I would have enjoyed it more if the imbalance in the relationship between mother and daughter was addressed and if the characters had developed somewhat. All in all, it is still an interesting read for those interested in modern German history.
August 31, 2015
A bittersweet debut novel about mother-daughter relationships and socialism. I really loved the opening chapter and nothing else really came up to par with it; it would be a brilliant short story on its own. A great setting and a fascinating look into the GDR from hopeful Westerners who expect it to be a utopia, something which really sets it apart from other books about the GDR. But honestly, other than the (great) description, I feel that not much happens in this book. The ending is expected, but after all that time, we don't really know who Jess has grown into. What is she studying? What does she like? What are her hopes and dreams?
March 14, 2020
A bit episodic and never quite hung together as well as it might have done, but individual moments narrated in a way that could be lucid, funny and atmospheric. Slightly thin characterisation for what seems to be essentially a memoir. Heart rounded up to 3.5 for mentioning Small Heath and Wigginton Rd Cemetery (but recorded as 3 for neglecting to mention Tamworth's Great Stera Milk Divide).
May 26, 2016
Today’s book is of special interest to me as it is partly set in former East Germany during the late 1970s. Having spent three months at the Karl Marx Univeristy in Leipzing before reunification I was keen to see how well the author captured the GDR’s unique and complicated spirit? How well and accurately she portrayed the places and its people?
The answer to both these questions is resounding very well indeed.
Written in the first person of 13-year-old Jess, Motherland follows three years of her life as a communist believer whilst living in Tamworth. Her mother, Eleanor, is a staunch socialist (communism is in the blood) and she works ceaselessly for the cause whilst at the same time being employed as a teacher.
To start with the writing style is comic in places, wonderfully fluid and light. Of her mother, Jess says “…her communist beliefs. Card-carrying. Chronic. As if it were a medical condition”.
As a child at Grammar School Jess suffers for her beliefs; facing both scorn and physical punishment from both the pupils and members of staff. Miss Downing, the headmistress, regards Jess “with a dead father and a communist other, … as good as orphaned”. As it was Jess’s father died before she was born. “Each just the other side of life.”
Tamworth is unreceptive, and at times violent, to Eleanor’s zealous campaigning and Jess herself describes it as “…that’s what you did with Time in this town, filled it. Because you weren’t born with a life, but a giant hole”.
No wonder therefore that Eleanor and Jess are overjoyed to receive the opportunity to travel to East Germany for a summer whilst Eleanor takes on teaching classes. Finally they are being offered the chance to experience the socialist dream.
Their first visit fails to dampen their innocent and naive trust in the system. For Eleanor she views GDR not so much through rose-coloured spectacles, rather through technicoloured rainbow glasses. During their first visit and subsequent visits and events her indefatigable belief in the GDR never falters.
Her unsuspecting beliefs never waver whereas Jess becomes increasingly aware of the discrepancies of the promised words and reality. Whilst Jess changes during these pivotal years she continues to love and protect her mother – realising that her mother is as happy as she can be in the sharing community of the East German society.
The tension in the book mounts as Jess’s innocence is shattered and she gradually awakens to the murkier nature of the GDR, where friend becomes foe, where one’s every move is monitored, reported. Where paranoia is the norm.The first cracks in Jess’s beliefs are created through her friendship with an East German girl, Martina. Her mother befriends and later falls for Martina’s father, Peter. The friendship between the four will have devastating repercussions for them all.
As the book develops so does the language, mimicking Jess’s own internal development. From her comic language at such events as her childhood attempt to defect to the GDR, the language becomes more serious and sophisticated as Jess becomes unwittingly deeper involved in the intelligence world. It’s a most successful transition in writing style.
The author creates not only the sense of 1970s East Germany, with its Berlin Wall, grey cities, idyllic countryside, Bitterfeld, Buchenwald, Zwickau, endless monument visits and of course the trabbies; she also captures the spirit of the UK with its CND, National Front, Thatcher – and not forgetting the Angel Delight!
This book is not what I expected – more complex, multi-layered. Funny and sad with great characters who succeeded in getting under my skin and living with me long after I had finished the book. It’s most surprising and well-worth a read.
The answer to both these questions is resounding very well indeed.
Written in the first person of 13-year-old Jess, Motherland follows three years of her life as a communist believer whilst living in Tamworth. Her mother, Eleanor, is a staunch socialist (communism is in the blood) and she works ceaselessly for the cause whilst at the same time being employed as a teacher.
To start with the writing style is comic in places, wonderfully fluid and light. Of her mother, Jess says “…her communist beliefs. Card-carrying. Chronic. As if it were a medical condition”.
As a child at Grammar School Jess suffers for her beliefs; facing both scorn and physical punishment from both the pupils and members of staff. Miss Downing, the headmistress, regards Jess “with a dead father and a communist other, … as good as orphaned”. As it was Jess’s father died before she was born. “Each just the other side of life.”
Tamworth is unreceptive, and at times violent, to Eleanor’s zealous campaigning and Jess herself describes it as “…that’s what you did with Time in this town, filled it. Because you weren’t born with a life, but a giant hole”.
No wonder therefore that Eleanor and Jess are overjoyed to receive the opportunity to travel to East Germany for a summer whilst Eleanor takes on teaching classes. Finally they are being offered the chance to experience the socialist dream.
Their first visit fails to dampen their innocent and naive trust in the system. For Eleanor she views GDR not so much through rose-coloured spectacles, rather through technicoloured rainbow glasses. During their first visit and subsequent visits and events her indefatigable belief in the GDR never falters.
Her unsuspecting beliefs never waver whereas Jess becomes increasingly aware of the discrepancies of the promised words and reality. Whilst Jess changes during these pivotal years she continues to love and protect her mother – realising that her mother is as happy as she can be in the sharing community of the East German society.
The tension in the book mounts as Jess’s innocence is shattered and she gradually awakens to the murkier nature of the GDR, where friend becomes foe, where one’s every move is monitored, reported. Where paranoia is the norm.The first cracks in Jess’s beliefs are created through her friendship with an East German girl, Martina. Her mother befriends and later falls for Martina’s father, Peter. The friendship between the four will have devastating repercussions for them all.
As the book develops so does the language, mimicking Jess’s own internal development. From her comic language at such events as her childhood attempt to defect to the GDR, the language becomes more serious and sophisticated as Jess becomes unwittingly deeper involved in the intelligence world. It’s a most successful transition in writing style.
The author creates not only the sense of 1970s East Germany, with its Berlin Wall, grey cities, idyllic countryside, Bitterfeld, Buchenwald, Zwickau, endless monument visits and of course the trabbies; she also captures the spirit of the UK with its CND, National Front, Thatcher – and not forgetting the Angel Delight!
This book is not what I expected – more complex, multi-layered. Funny and sad with great characters who succeeded in getting under my skin and living with me long after I had finished the book. It’s most surprising and well-worth a read.
November 29, 2016
This review was originally posted to Jen in Bookland
Motherland was a bit of a dissapointment for me. I was really looking forward to reading a story about what East Berlin was like at the time, but this book spent hardly any time there. Eleanor did go over for the summer to teach, but you don't get to see much of that. It was really just a story about a mom who fell in love with a guy and they couldn't be together. It was not the best read as none of the characters except for the mom were flushed out at all. I really couldn't tell you much about the girl telling the story, Jess. I draw a blank when I think of her (and pretty much all of the other characters).
One thing I did enjoy at the start was how Jess described things. It was in kind of a poetic way. A bit of a puzzle at times or really creative descritptions. The story started off great with Jess and her mom selling their paper on Sat morning and I though this is going to be great! I can't wait to see where this goes. Only it felt like it didn't really go anywhere. It was just snippets of stories of things that happened and most of the time they didn't feel that significant or were really important enough for a story.
This is a hard one to write a review for as I read it a few days ago and now I'm trying to think of what happened in it and it is just blank. The mother is very devoted to the Party, at some point **spoiler alert** I think Jess gets disillusioned, but when I have no idea. It was just at the end she wasn't all into it anymore, but I never saw the progression. It didn't feel like there was much to the story so I don't have much to say about it. It was...just not my favorite read.
Motherland was a bit of a dissapointment for me. I was really looking forward to reading a story about what East Berlin was like at the time, but this book spent hardly any time there. Eleanor did go over for the summer to teach, but you don't get to see much of that. It was really just a story about a mom who fell in love with a guy and they couldn't be together. It was not the best read as none of the characters except for the mom were flushed out at all. I really couldn't tell you much about the girl telling the story, Jess. I draw a blank when I think of her (and pretty much all of the other characters).
One thing I did enjoy at the start was how Jess described things. It was in kind of a poetic way. A bit of a puzzle at times or really creative descritptions. The story started off great with Jess and her mom selling their paper on Sat morning and I though this is going to be great! I can't wait to see where this goes. Only it felt like it didn't really go anywhere. It was just snippets of stories of things that happened and most of the time they didn't feel that significant or were really important enough for a story.
This is a hard one to write a review for as I read it a few days ago and now I'm trying to think of what happened in it and it is just blank. The mother is very devoted to the Party, at some point **spoiler alert** I think Jess gets disillusioned, but when I have no idea. It was just at the end she wasn't all into it anymore, but I never saw the progression. It didn't feel like there was much to the story so I don't have much to say about it. It was...just not my favorite read.
February 3, 2019
This excellent novel will stikre a note with anyone growing up in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s who was involved in the peace movement and left politics, especially in the dying days of the CPGB. The author was either living it herself or has interrogated very well people who were. Based around a mother and daughter trying to stir up the revolutionary masses in a provincial town where class consciousness has become increasingly unconscious the novel follows the daily life of the pair as they rail against the world around them. Into the picture comes the "Really Existing Socialism" of the German Democratic Republic which to some on the left in the 1970s and 80s offered an example of an alternative to the misery and drudgery of Thatcherism which was then tearing apart the fabric of Britain and bulldozing society and community which had been declared nonexistent. The daily struggles, realities and truths that I remember from the time are well conveyed, so well that I found it quite an emotional experience reading it with the memories it triggered. The little things are well observed both in the GDR and UK. The politics of the time and the conflicts and intrigues are well presented and cleverly without, I think, any of the crude stereotyping that often dogs such attempts, even while characters are used to present whole steams of thought or political position. Jo McMillan manages to deal with the high politics with a human face and through the whole work there is a lively humour. Happily the book presents an image of the real GDR, a place of contrast and contradiction which for some back then really did seem to offer an alternative and in different circumstances could well have been. A poignant but very enjoyable read from an author who captures the time really well.
November 23, 2024
Eleanor Mitchell raised her daughter to believe in the international struggle for workers’ rights. She taught Jess to see the calm, conservative town of Tamworth, England as enemy territory. By the age of thirteen, Jess is waiting for the immanent collapse of capitalism and socialist revolution. It’s weirdly disappointing then that all she and her mother seem to get while selling their communist paper is the occasional angry shout or threat from the butcher. Shortly after Jo McMillan’s coming-of-age tale, Motherland, opens, Eleanor receives an invitation from East Germany to teach English at a hochschule (a college of sorts). Finally, Jess and Eleanor will be able to see “Actual Existing Socialism.”
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
May 29, 2016
I liked this one, despite a rather abrupt shift in tone in the final fifth or so. Ultimately a warm portrait of mother-daughter relations, juxtaposed against the East German-(the mid-sized Staffordshire town of) Tamworth relations.
Quite.
Tragi-comic really, given the narrative arc, but it never descends into farce, nor does it condescend to its characters and reader. I enjoyed it a lot, even though at times it delves into sometimes desperately embarrassing territory, and we are set from the very beginning for a rather sad end.
Well worth chasing down.
Quite.
Tragi-comic really, given the narrative arc, but it never descends into farce, nor does it condescend to its characters and reader. I enjoyed it a lot, even though at times it delves into sometimes desperately embarrassing territory, and we are set from the very beginning for a rather sad end.
Well worth chasing down.
July 22, 2016
I loved this. Largely based on McMillan's own upbringing - and a 'love letter' to her own mother - it's a touching, humorous story, with smart dialogue & brilliant detail; it's bittersweet because we know the ending, the shelf-life of the GDR. It's also about relationships, family, making a home, fitting in, trying to do your best - remembering political acronyms, bringing alcohol and stollen back from socialist summer camps and having Christmas presents prodded by East German border guards. I'm so glad McMillan got the time, funding and (her mother's) permission to write this story.
February 2, 2017
I really enjoyed this. Written through the eyes of a teenager commenting on the world around her, living in a small town trying to do radical politics. The world seems odd and often sad through her eyes and even though she dreams of defecting to the GDR her observations don't paint the country through rose tinted spectacles. She comments on the odd, the funny and quirky rather than cheerleading. And it was this that led a reviewer in the Morning Star to slate the book and probably the reason why it should be read!
January 14, 2019
The story was hard to read, lack of authentic voice from the character and felt very 'drippy'. Couldn't bear to finish the book unfortunately and is a rare occurrence for me.
September 4, 2021
I reserved this from my local library and it was worth the wait! It was set over 6yrs from the end of the 1970s to the mid 1980s. It was the story of a widowed communist mother and her daughter then aged 13 and the life they led in a small town in the West Midlands, Tamworth. Well since they came from around my area it was going to be a good book to read!
This was such a poignant book, the mother Eleanor was a passionate communist and wanted to live in russia or the GDR, this was east germany and still under communist rule. Her young daughter Jess was bullied at school and had no friends. Both of them were lonely but Eleanor couldn't really see the struggles Jess was having, having a parent who loved her very much but was more engaged with communism and having to stand with her selling the communist worker in the main shopping centre to the scorn of the passers by and to the aggression of the local butcher who was bullying them to move along.
Eventually they get sent on a month long holiday to berlin or thereabouts, and attend conferences daily and have little time to see the surrounding area. They visit mines, factories etc. Jess makes friends with another young girl Martina, whose father Peter is a committed communist and when the burgeoning relationship between Eleanor and Peter is picked up on, he gets sent to somewhere in the far east to recruit more communists to the cause. Eleanor and Jess go back to being lonely in Tamworth again.
It almost makes you want to cry at the situation they are living under, Eleanor is still passionate about communism, Jess less so and wants to go to university, Eleanor and Peter seemed a good match and Jess and Martina would be good sisters, but the futility of their lives is so overwhelming that you just wish something nice to happen to both of them. I won't tell you the ending but like in life some endings are not the ones you wish for.
It is worth reading if only to get a feel of what living under a repressed regime was like.
This was such a poignant book, the mother Eleanor was a passionate communist and wanted to live in russia or the GDR, this was east germany and still under communist rule. Her young daughter Jess was bullied at school and had no friends. Both of them were lonely but Eleanor couldn't really see the struggles Jess was having, having a parent who loved her very much but was more engaged with communism and having to stand with her selling the communist worker in the main shopping centre to the scorn of the passers by and to the aggression of the local butcher who was bullying them to move along.
Eventually they get sent on a month long holiday to berlin or thereabouts, and attend conferences daily and have little time to see the surrounding area. They visit mines, factories etc. Jess makes friends with another young girl Martina, whose father Peter is a committed communist and when the burgeoning relationship between Eleanor and Peter is picked up on, he gets sent to somewhere in the far east to recruit more communists to the cause. Eleanor and Jess go back to being lonely in Tamworth again.
It almost makes you want to cry at the situation they are living under, Eleanor is still passionate about communism, Jess less so and wants to go to university, Eleanor and Peter seemed a good match and Jess and Martina would be good sisters, but the futility of their lives is so overwhelming that you just wish something nice to happen to both of them. I won't tell you the ending but like in life some endings are not the ones you wish for.
It is worth reading if only to get a feel of what living under a repressed regime was like.
February 17, 2018
The coming of age story with some difficult base - not just the typical teenage angst, but THE idea that went wrong.
1978. Teenager Jess and her mother are passionate in their fight for all things socialism from their British home. With enormous dedication, they give their all to THE fight. Then the opportunity occurs for the summer stay in the socialistic East Germany, and all the fight is more personal from then, as Jess meets the first friend in her life and her mother meets the love of her life. But machinery wirks too well on the both sides - but the very thing what is the bother on the Western side, is the oppression on the socialistic side.
From the personal point - of course all went wrong! Coming from the post-communistic country, I can only smile sadly and knowingly when anyone not from here is singing the praise for the idea of communism. And more sadly, some of the characters are smiling with me now, when all is said and done.
From the literary point - the authoress is skilled with the words, vividity and emotions, but less with the plot. The book is infused with feelings, but unfortunately lacking any real depth and going to nowhere. The personal sadness is truly very small when compared to all the loss of people living in the socialism. Hurt feelings compared to oppression? There is no real conclusion, no real ending, just the feelings. I, as a reader, like to gain more for the time spent reading. Like could not the book end with Jess and Martina meeting again, as the new generation? The end of the socialism is not far from the last chapter.
But I was left just with the feelings of THE tragedy - and this is not the satisfaction I has hoped to gain.
Ms McMillan is skilled writer. Fingers crossed next time with more in-depth attitude!
1978. Teenager Jess and her mother are passionate in their fight for all things socialism from their British home. With enormous dedication, they give their all to THE fight. Then the opportunity occurs for the summer stay in the socialistic East Germany, and all the fight is more personal from then, as Jess meets the first friend in her life and her mother meets the love of her life. But machinery wirks too well on the both sides - but the very thing what is the bother on the Western side, is the oppression on the socialistic side.
From the personal point - of course all went wrong! Coming from the post-communistic country, I can only smile sadly and knowingly when anyone not from here is singing the praise for the idea of communism. And more sadly, some of the characters are smiling with me now, when all is said and done.
From the literary point - the authoress is skilled with the words, vividity and emotions, but less with the plot. The book is infused with feelings, but unfortunately lacking any real depth and going to nowhere. The personal sadness is truly very small when compared to all the loss of people living in the socialism. Hurt feelings compared to oppression? There is no real conclusion, no real ending, just the feelings. I, as a reader, like to gain more for the time spent reading. Like could not the book end with Jess and Martina meeting again, as the new generation? The end of the socialism is not far from the last chapter.
But I was left just with the feelings of THE tragedy - and this is not the satisfaction I has hoped to gain.
Ms McMillan is skilled writer. Fingers crossed next time with more in-depth attitude!
July 18, 2025
This book had so much potential but it lost me. Firstly, a glossary describing the numerous references would've helped so much. Having to continuously google the references completely hindered my ability to fully immerse myself into the story. The ending was so abrupt too. You give me so many details about random things like the indian takeout but you won't tell me more about the characters I begin to care about??? I find out things via a letter?? No final conversation, just a dude in a boat??
This sucked so much because I really had high hopes for this too. You give me beautiful writing in the beginning and then make me sit through so many unnecessary details just to conclude the most interesting bit (the ending with Jess and her mom and Peter) IN A HANDFUL OF PAGES.
2 stars for the banger quotes I sent to my friends during this reading.
1 star for the fun history info.
This sucked so much because I really had high hopes for this too. You give me beautiful writing in the beginning and then make me sit through so many unnecessary details just to conclude the most interesting bit (the ending with Jess and her mom and Peter) IN A HANDFUL OF PAGES.
2 stars for the banger quotes I sent to my friends during this reading.
1 star for the fun history info.
March 3, 2019
For some reason I was under the impression that this novel was a comedy but while it has plenty of funny moments it goes a lot deeper: growing up in a fundamentalist environment, a bitter-sweet love story, a tragic chapter of history. It is a subtle portrait of the times, the late 70s to early 80s, the cold war is raging, Gorbachev only a glint on the horizon. What I found most touching, though, was the relationship between the two main characters, mother and daughter, Eleanor and Jess. They are so full of conviction and faith, so full of love and life. I wanted in turns to shake them and give them a hug.
While some of the socialist minutiae was a bit too long-drawn-out for my taste, I did enjoy the book and would love to know how the story is going to continue.
While some of the socialist minutiae was a bit too long-drawn-out for my taste, I did enjoy the book and would love to know how the story is going to continue.
September 26, 2019
What a disappointing book. The premise was good, the actual plot was completely fine, but it was written in a way that felt extremely tedious. I couldn't connect with any of the characters, I had no idea why anyone was doing the things they were doing, it all seemed like a boring parade of meetings and minutes (which was probably the point.) I found my attention continually wandering from the book's disappointed, sarcastic, unpleasant tone. I feel like it's better just to watch Goodbye Lenin and leave this one where it is.
July 31, 2023
Motherland is one out of the box. It's very rare to see anything as embedded in real experience and written in English, about the GDR. It undercuts the usual motifs that the West has promoted about the GDR whilst still portraying the way in which East Germans navigated the waters of state-sanctioned activities and suspicions to build their own lives. It also reminds us that the GDR did have an amazing focus on the things that support quality of life for working people- recreation activities and spaces, etc. A thought-provoking book with really engaging characters.
September 21, 2022
The whole style of this book is drab and depressing and there doesn't seem to be much difference between Tamworth and the GDR to be honest. There was enough for me to keep going but not enough for me to say I enjoyed it - curiousity about how it was going to end, given I know how the larger backdrop was developing at the time. However, that was a disappointment, not really sure what happened in the last few pages so it fizzled out like a damp squib for me.
June 11, 2021
I enjoyed this one. Eleanor and Jess, mother and daughter, living in 70s/80s England dreaming of the utopia of East Germany.
Slow to start, maybe i'm too used to page turning thrillers, and slow to finish as I rationed myself to a few pages at a time so it didn't end too soon.
I'd love a follow up from the German side, how Martina and Peter got on in their lives.
Slow to start, maybe i'm too used to page turning thrillers, and slow to finish as I rationed myself to a few pages at a time so it didn't end too soon.
I'd love a follow up from the German side, how Martina and Peter got on in their lives.
August 7, 2017
Very disappointing. Difficult to know who was most unbelievable - the mother or the daughter. The mother in particular seemed a cardboard cutout with few redeeming features; really were all those USSR supporters so naive?
June 6, 2021
Started off decent but just petered out into nothing. Honestly no idea what happened in the last third of the book, couldn’t explain it if I tried!
May 6, 2024
Very enjoyable audiobook listen. Interesting setting,
February 20, 2017
Growing up as the only child of the only communist in the Midlands town of Tamworth, Jess has felt like she’s ‘different’ all her life. When her mother, Eleanor, gets the opportunity to spend time in East Germany over the summers, her and Jess jump at the chance. Living in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), they begin to feel like they’ve found a place where they finally fit in.
While in Tamworth, Eleanor was the butt of every joke, in East Germany she is valued and appreciated. When they meet Peter, a widower, and his daughter Martina through the party, it seems like the final pieces might be starting to fall into place. But it soon clear that the Party must come first before all else.
Jess is the main character – we see through her eyes and are heavily influenced by her views. Despite this, the character that I emphasised the most with was Eleanor. She clearly has incredibly strong beliefs and a tireless commitment to a cause that she believes in completely – even when she’s spit on, ground down and disappointed. Her steadfast commitment to her values never wavers. I admire her for sticking to her convictions through thick and thin, but can’t help but think that she’s choosing a life that may not necessarily lead to her being very happy.
Jess is also a great character – she’s observant and witty – and as a result of her mother’s strength of faith in communism, she a true believer herself. The negative attention that’s come her way over the course of her life, the only time she’s ever really able to feel her true self is when she spends her summers in East Germany. But if soon becomes clear that the party might not be all she thought it was.
Martina gave a really interesting insight into what life was like for young people growing up on the other side of the Berlin Wall. Despite her fleeting presence throughout the book, she acts as a constant reminder that there is a darker side to every story, and that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. While Jess is dreaming of defecting and running away to live in the GDR, Martina is quick to remind her that she, as a British citizen, has a freedom that she doesn’t have. She longs to travel beyond the Eastern Bloc and to see England, but as a GDR citizen at this time, this simple dream isn’t something that she could possibly dream of achieving.
I did enjoy reading this novel, but for me it felt like there was something missing. Since then, I’ve discovered that it was originally intended to be a work on non-fiction, based on the author’s real life experiences. I think that some traces of this are still evident in the finished novel. I wasn’t sure what the core messages were that the author wanted us to take away – and I also think it may have needed a little something extra to make it a bit more exciting. That said, the author goes into huge detail about the intricacies of life on the other side of the fence during the Cold War, and it gave a really fascinating insight into an area of history that I’m ashamed to say that I know relatively little about.
While in Tamworth, Eleanor was the butt of every joke, in East Germany she is valued and appreciated. When they meet Peter, a widower, and his daughter Martina through the party, it seems like the final pieces might be starting to fall into place. But it soon clear that the Party must come first before all else.
Jess is the main character – we see through her eyes and are heavily influenced by her views. Despite this, the character that I emphasised the most with was Eleanor. She clearly has incredibly strong beliefs and a tireless commitment to a cause that she believes in completely – even when she’s spit on, ground down and disappointed. Her steadfast commitment to her values never wavers. I admire her for sticking to her convictions through thick and thin, but can’t help but think that she’s choosing a life that may not necessarily lead to her being very happy.
Jess is also a great character – she’s observant and witty – and as a result of her mother’s strength of faith in communism, she a true believer herself. The negative attention that’s come her way over the course of her life, the only time she’s ever really able to feel her true self is when she spends her summers in East Germany. But if soon becomes clear that the party might not be all she thought it was.
Martina gave a really interesting insight into what life was like for young people growing up on the other side of the Berlin Wall. Despite her fleeting presence throughout the book, she acts as a constant reminder that there is a darker side to every story, and that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. While Jess is dreaming of defecting and running away to live in the GDR, Martina is quick to remind her that she, as a British citizen, has a freedom that she doesn’t have. She longs to travel beyond the Eastern Bloc and to see England, but as a GDR citizen at this time, this simple dream isn’t something that she could possibly dream of achieving.
I did enjoy reading this novel, but for me it felt like there was something missing. Since then, I’ve discovered that it was originally intended to be a work on non-fiction, based on the author’s real life experiences. I think that some traces of this are still evident in the finished novel. I wasn’t sure what the core messages were that the author wanted us to take away – and I also think it may have needed a little something extra to make it a bit more exciting. That said, the author goes into huge detail about the intricacies of life on the other side of the fence during the Cold War, and it gave a really fascinating insight into an area of history that I’m ashamed to say that I know relatively little about.
September 3, 2015
I am a child of the 1990s – I grew up on PlayDays, the fall of the Conservative government and the rise of the Spice Girls. For me, Motherland is a piece of historical fiction, but I recognise that for many other readers, this novel has the potential to be more hard-hitting, particularly given its semi-autobiographical roots. Like her protagonist Jess Mitchell, Jo McMillan was the only teenage Communist in Tamworth in the late 1970s, something which it rapidly becomes clear is a rather thankless task. Jess’ Saturday routine is to go into the shopping precinct with her single-parent mother Eleanor to sell copies of The Morning Star, much to the disgust of the locals. The battle to convert the unwilling people of the Midlands to Communism gets put on the back-burner however when Eleanor receives an invitation to go and teach at a summer school in the GDR (German Democratic Republic). Overjoyed at the opportunity to see Actual Socialism In Action, Eleanor and Jess travel over to East Germany – going from being pariahs in Tamworth to celebrated dignitaries in Potsdam.
From fairly early in the novel, I was reminded of Meera Syal’s Anita and Me. There are some fairly obvious parallels – both take place in the 1970s, both feature fish-out-of-water protagonists and in tone they both tend towards the tragi-comic. There are also certain elements of an Absolutely Fabulous dynamic between Jess and her mother however, with Eleanor having relentless enthusiasm and devotion to the Cause and the Revolution which is guaranteed to take place within her daughter’s lifetime – by contrast, the reader watches as Jess begins very gradually to question the true value of the Communist state. In terms of humour, as the novel progresses from the 70s into the very early 80s, I thought of Goodbye Lenin which captured a similar note of hyperbole in its portrayal of GDR fanaticism. Still, in many respects, Motherland is a very British tale – indeed while the word of the title is used by Eleanor to refer to the GDR or occasionally Russia, the main theme of the novel is about Jess’ relationship with her mother.
jo mcmilland mother
(c) Jo McMillan
Eleanor’s parenting may verge on the chaotic – she uses an old class register to keep a record of those on her hit list and has interesting standards of cleanliness – but her all-enveloping love for her daughter is conjured vividly on the page. Having grown up with a single mother myself, I did feel she had captured something of the bond – although I would emphasise here that my own mother is a Northern Irish Presbyterian for whom Routine Was Gospel. Coming from a family with a strong Communist pedigree, Jess finds herself the subject of random ‘welfare chats’ with her headmistress as well as becoming the first pupil in her school’s four hundred year history to require a ‘Social and Emotional Health’ assessment. We can sense the author’s own recollections in many of the more humourous asides, such as her mother’s habit of apologising to the local Chinese and Indian takeaways for various British atrocities in their home countries – the Opium Wars in China, the Amritsar Massacre in India – leading to polite reassurances from the staff, “That’s all right, Mrs Mitchell. Don’t let it worry you. Enjoy your meal”. Yet beyond all of this, we sense the desperation and loneliness behind all of Eleanor’s frenetic activity – so we can understand Jess’ silent relief when her mother meets Peter during one of their summer visits to Potsdam.
To Eleanor, the GDR is the place of milk and honey. Everything is better there – her own home features clocks set to GDR time, her furniture, her crockery – everything is better if it can be sourced from the Motherland. Her delight in meeting Peter is all-consuming but even the much more cynical Jess is pleased for her, also finding friendship with Peter’s teenage daughter Martina. Martina is more circumspect about the party, introducing a note of doubt in contrast to Eleanor’s unswerving loyalty. She is wide-eyed and unquestioning in her support for the Soviet Union, Eleanor clicks her tongue in scorn at any reports that denigrate it, spouting propaganda verbatim and refusing to question even as cracks begin to show in the friendships she believes she has forged. Unhappy with the bond between Eleanor and Peter, steps are taken to separate them, revealing the ugly reality behind the smiles and the solidarity which the GDR appeared to offer. Peter is sent away, Martina is forbidden to contact the Mitchells and the fairy-tale which seemed about to come true crashes down.
For my full review: http://girlwithherheadinabook.co.uk/2...
From fairly early in the novel, I was reminded of Meera Syal’s Anita and Me. There are some fairly obvious parallels – both take place in the 1970s, both feature fish-out-of-water protagonists and in tone they both tend towards the tragi-comic. There are also certain elements of an Absolutely Fabulous dynamic between Jess and her mother however, with Eleanor having relentless enthusiasm and devotion to the Cause and the Revolution which is guaranteed to take place within her daughter’s lifetime – by contrast, the reader watches as Jess begins very gradually to question the true value of the Communist state. In terms of humour, as the novel progresses from the 70s into the very early 80s, I thought of Goodbye Lenin which captured a similar note of hyperbole in its portrayal of GDR fanaticism. Still, in many respects, Motherland is a very British tale – indeed while the word of the title is used by Eleanor to refer to the GDR or occasionally Russia, the main theme of the novel is about Jess’ relationship with her mother.
jo mcmilland mother
(c) Jo McMillan
Eleanor’s parenting may verge on the chaotic – she uses an old class register to keep a record of those on her hit list and has interesting standards of cleanliness – but her all-enveloping love for her daughter is conjured vividly on the page. Having grown up with a single mother myself, I did feel she had captured something of the bond – although I would emphasise here that my own mother is a Northern Irish Presbyterian for whom Routine Was Gospel. Coming from a family with a strong Communist pedigree, Jess finds herself the subject of random ‘welfare chats’ with her headmistress as well as becoming the first pupil in her school’s four hundred year history to require a ‘Social and Emotional Health’ assessment. We can sense the author’s own recollections in many of the more humourous asides, such as her mother’s habit of apologising to the local Chinese and Indian takeaways for various British atrocities in their home countries – the Opium Wars in China, the Amritsar Massacre in India – leading to polite reassurances from the staff, “That’s all right, Mrs Mitchell. Don’t let it worry you. Enjoy your meal”. Yet beyond all of this, we sense the desperation and loneliness behind all of Eleanor’s frenetic activity – so we can understand Jess’ silent relief when her mother meets Peter during one of their summer visits to Potsdam.
To Eleanor, the GDR is the place of milk and honey. Everything is better there – her own home features clocks set to GDR time, her furniture, her crockery – everything is better if it can be sourced from the Motherland. Her delight in meeting Peter is all-consuming but even the much more cynical Jess is pleased for her, also finding friendship with Peter’s teenage daughter Martina. Martina is more circumspect about the party, introducing a note of doubt in contrast to Eleanor’s unswerving loyalty. She is wide-eyed and unquestioning in her support for the Soviet Union, Eleanor clicks her tongue in scorn at any reports that denigrate it, spouting propaganda verbatim and refusing to question even as cracks begin to show in the friendships she believes she has forged. Unhappy with the bond between Eleanor and Peter, steps are taken to separate them, revealing the ugly reality behind the smiles and the solidarity which the GDR appeared to offer. Peter is sent away, Martina is forbidden to contact the Mitchells and the fairy-tale which seemed about to come true crashes down.
For my full review: http://girlwithherheadinabook.co.uk/2...
July 25, 2019
This is a touching, funny coming-of-age/mother-daughter story, with a pretty unique twist. Jess and her mum are the only communists in Tamworth, and we see their stories play out as they fight for socialism on their own turf and put down roots on the "other side" of the Berlin wall, in the GDR. Having studied the cold war from a very Western point of view, and seeing the stories of those who tried to flee East Germany when I visited Checkpoint Charlie and seeing the scars of that particular brand of socialism when I visited Budapest, I thought it was fascinating to see a story from the other perspective. With hindsight and a Western perspective, it was such a learning curve for me to see the story of those who really believed in the GDR, and the fact that they were British really added to that sense of discovering a whole new angle. The story itself is simple and the characters aren't as well fleshed out as I wish they were, but considering the subject matter perhaps that helped in keeping this a light hearted read.
April 5, 2015
A mother-daughter story seeped in communism. From the start Jess is already on the school's radar, having a mother whose support of communism in the Midlands, England worries the school. Elenor leaves to teach in East Germany for the summer, and while they sudddenly are on the right side for a while, everything is going to change. Jess is sure she and her mother are on the good side, even if they are the only communists in their village. When her mother, Elenor meets Peter and his daughter Martina- it seems everything is going to change for them. But Peter is soon off to Laos as a 'trusted' party member and soon they are lefting wondering what happened to him. This is a mother daughter story, and maybe Elenor defects to GDR, at a time when people defected from GDR. Or does she defect from Elenor to embrace her ideal life.
Funny when you are so sure you're on the right side of things, when being one of the few fighting for beliefs others are against leaves everyone suspicicous of you and how easily a daughter embraces her mother's righteousness only to wonder later if she believed in anything at all. The faith her mother has, even after the hard truth of communism destroys even love, is enough to relay the blindness in belief. Even when it cost Elenor love, she seems to embrace the harshness of communism. I spent a lot of time being frustrated by Elenor. The ending is sad, which seems easy to predict with all the crushing weight of belief. Communism in my life has been something my father and grandparents left when they came to America from Hungary, so reading about a woman idealizing it sits heavy with me. An interestingly different view point.
Funny when you are so sure you're on the right side of things, when being one of the few fighting for beliefs others are against leaves everyone suspicicous of you and how easily a daughter embraces her mother's righteousness only to wonder later if she believed in anything at all. The faith her mother has, even after the hard truth of communism destroys even love, is enough to relay the blindness in belief. Even when it cost Elenor love, she seems to embrace the harshness of communism. I spent a lot of time being frustrated by Elenor. The ending is sad, which seems easy to predict with all the crushing weight of belief. Communism in my life has been something my father and grandparents left when they came to America from Hungary, so reading about a woman idealizing it sits heavy with me. An interestingly different view point.
February 18, 2017
I am a bit confused about the direction of this novel, it needed further editing. However the historical context was brilliant and the narrative was humorous.
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