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The Good Mother
The Good Mother
Jan 1, 2026 11:51 PM

Author:Sinéad Moriarty

The Good Mother

'There is warmth and heart aplenty in this delicately told story' Daily Mail

Moving back in with her dad was not part of Kate's plan. Blindsided by her husband's affair and the break-up of their family, Kate must balance the needs of three very different children - solo.

Seven-year-old Bobby is having meltdowns at school. Eighteen-year-old Luke vows that he'll never speak to his father again. And sweet middle-child Jess, always the peacemaker, is just trying to cheer everyone up as best she can.

But when Jess is diagnosed with cancer, Kate's resilience is put to the ultimate test. She knows she has to put aside her own hurt and do what is best for her little girl. But maybe doing the right thing means doing the unthinkable?

'A heart-warming and a heart-breaking story, beautifully written and sensitive ... compelling' Woman's Way

'A fascinating exploration of difficult subjects ... Moriarty writes with compelling authority' Irish Times

'OMG! I'm an emotional wreck after reading this novel, probably not helped by the fact that I pulled an all-nighter to finish it ... I just could not put it down' Eileen Dunne, RTÉ

__________

Praise for Sinéad Moriarty:

'Heartfelt and deeply moving ... I couldn't put it down.' Susan Lewis

'Intriguing and thought provoking ... a great read.' Katie Fforde

'Gripping and thought-provoking - I was desperate to discover how it would pan out!' Paige Toon

'We ate this fabulous story up - 4 stars' Heat magazine

'Love, lies and longing - this has it all - 4 stars' Woman magazine

'Intriguing - a dramatic twist in the tale will keep you engrossed.' Candis

Reviews

Another page-turner by the always reliable Moriarty

—— Mail on Sunday

Gripping and heartfelt tale

—— Sunday World

A heart-warming and a heart-breaking story, beautifully written and sensitive . . . compelling

—— Woman's Way

A fascinating exploration of difficult subjects . . . Moriarty writes with compelling authority

—— Irish Times

There is warmth and heart aplenty in this delicately told story

—— Irish Daily Mail

The sun has disappeared from books these days... You are one of those who pass it on

—— Albert Camus to Margarita Liberaki

Drifting blossom, girlish secrets and lantern-lit dances pervade the 1946 Greek classic Three Summers, by Margarita Liberaki, featuring three sisters on the brink of adulthood on a pre-civil-war country estate at Kifi ssia, outside Athens. Just reissued, this innocent gem is often compared to Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle

—— Country & Townhouse

With its sensuous prose, nostalgic charm, playful humour and evocation of burgeoning sexuality, this novel is the literary equivalent of a sun-soaked holiday in Greece

—— CultureWhisper

In the tradition of Stephen King's Dark Tower books, Wendig views the cosmic and terrifying through the lens of the domestic, anchoring his visions of the sublime in the grit of the familiar

—— John Langan, author of Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies

Sweeping yet intimate, multi-layered and big-hearted, this is a novel to sink deeply into

—— Dan Chaon, author of Ill Will

An excellent gripping tale that crosses the genres with aplomb.

—— SciFi Bulletin

A funny, biting satire on the excesses and hypocrisy of social media

—— Sunday Independent

Relentlessly funny

—— Irish Independent

Plenty of laugh out loud moments . . . This is a sharp and extremely funny page-turner

—— Business Post Magazine

Uproariously funny. The world has never needed satire more urgently and Boyne delivers in spades.

—— The Sunday Times

Fun, fierce and furious, The Echo Chamber is a riotous read that is not to be missed.

—— Sunday Express

[Boyne] is an incredibly versatile author...[this] is a brilliant read...a sharply satirical novel...so current, so relevant, absolutely hilarious

—— New Books

Biting and very funny

—— The Times

Evie Wyld’s powerful new novel…[is] a feminine counterforce to the masculine violence that pulses viscerally throughout… No wonder Wyld’s rage erupts from the page as she bears witness to the women who fail to survive and searches for ways that others might.

—— Emily Rhodes , Spectator

Evie Wyld is one of our most exciting young writers and her latest book is being touted as her breakthrough. An epic novel.

—— Metro

Evie Wyld…[is] one of our most distinctive and vital voices.

—— Stephanie Cross , Daily Mail, *Books to Look Our For in 2020*

Wyld is the most stupendous of writers, daring, heartfelt, explosive. The Bass Rock reminds us of all her power and brilliance, it thrums with an anger it is impossible not to feel.

—— Daisy Johnson

The Bass Rock is a multi-generational modern gothic triumph. It is spectacularly well-observed, profoundly disquieting and utterly riveting. Like all Evie Wyld's work it is startlingly insightful about psychological and physical abuse. It is a haunting, masterful novel.

—— Max Porter

A brutal portrait of male violence, as unchanging down the centuries as the coastal rock of the title… Cleverly constructed, full of electric scene-making, and harnessing an eerie energythe novel ends in hope.

—— Anthony Cummins , i

Everything [Evie Wyld] has published has left me excited and slightly (very) envious of her ability… And then came The Bass RockSomething extremely special… The book takes on an immense power. This is the best book of the #MeToo eraAn absolute blinder.

—— Fran Slater , Bookmunch

Vividly told and compellingThe Bass Rock isbeautifully written and powered by blistering force and righteous anger.

—— Alice O'Keefe , Bookseller

Evie Wyld is exceptionally good at the gruesome… Her bewitching third novelThe Bass Rock is beautifully written and its particular brand of macabre is all Evie Wyld’s own. The tension, foreboding and sense of inevitability are hard to shake off, even once the final page is turned. Its atmosphere is so powerful that you feel you need to go for a walk afterwards.

—— Cressida Connolly , Literary Review

A dark, gristly marvel of a novel. The Bass Rock held me in thrall from cover to cover. Evie Wyld is a gothic genius: her narrative of the violence inflicted on women throughout the centuries and the seething, female anger left in its wake left me with a deep sense of disquiet that will doubtless remain for years to come.

—— Hannah Kent

A fierce novel exploring the subjugation of – and violence against – women through the ages.

—— Hannah Beckerman , Observer

I savoured this wonderful novel; it is so extraordinarily clear-eyed and vivid, sharply disturbing yet deeply compassionate. What an amazing achievement.

—— Megan Hunter

Wonderfully subtle and magnificently savage.

—— Claire Fuller

Evie Wyld's vivid, visceral writing has long been in a class of its own – and as beautiful as it is terrifying, as moral as it is furious, The Bass Rock is her at her unflinching best.

—— Melissa Harrison

Amazingly good. The Bass Rock will fill the air around you with angry ghosts and you will be glad in their company.

—— Adam Foulds

Wyld’s The Bass Rock is her third novel and best so farthis is Wyld’s masterpiece – as majestic and monumental as the landmark it’s named after.

—— Alex Preston , Observer, *Books to Look Our For in 2020*

A bewitching and atmospheric novel, laced with dread. It reveals the haunted house of society, with its echoes of damaged and extinguished lives, but is also illuminated by beautiful observation about people, and their capacity for both violence and empathy.

—— James Scudamore

I loved The Bass Rock and found it menacing, sophisticated, magical and also very funny – the best book yet by a wonderful writer.

—— Anjali Joseph

Evie Wyld’s The Bass Rock sounds fascinating… Wyld has a luminous prose style, and to see how she copes with 300 years and Scottish doubleness (or tripleness) is high on my list of “to reads”.

—— Stuart Kelly , Scotland on Sunday

Beautifully written, [The Bass Rock] is a reminder of female folklore and the power of giving words to women.

—— Stylist *10 glorious new books to buy this March*

Ambitious in scope… The physical atmosphere of the Bass Rock and its surroundings are wonderfully evoked… But it is the relationships between women in this tessellated work that triumph... I wholly recommend this book.

—— William Jolt , Tablet, *Novel of the Week*

Wyld is often praised for her lyrical prose, and The Bass Rock is most certainly a continuation of this form.

—— Julie Vuong , Skinny

[A] dark, beautiful and funny gothic family saga for the #MeToo generation… an atmospheric book that transports you within a few sentences… The tension is always building as the story takes on an otherworldly dimension.

—— Charlotte Cripps , Independent

The Bass Rock is complex, rich, challenging… Like David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, The Bass Rock offers a universal history of subjugation and oppressionViolenceruns through the book like veins in marbleVivid and gripping.

—— Irish Times

A gripping look at three women's stories across four centuries.

—— Joanne Finney , Good Housekeeping

Evie Wyld’s passion for horror shines through in the setting of this novel.

—— Chiara Rimella , Monocle

Utterly enthralling… [Wyld’s] eye for human foibles and idiosyncrasy is incredibly sharp, and this novel once again exhibits her bravura way with narrative structure… Dark, disturbing and very sophisticated.

—— William Boyd , Sunday Times

[An] intensely absorbing gothic novel, which weaves together the fate of three women across three centuries. That it can also comfortably accommodate episodes of off-the-wall, Fleabag-esque hilarity confirms the acclaimed Wyld's brilliance.

—— Stephanie Cross , Daily Mail *Best of Summer Books*

Wyld's thought-provoking plots separate this book from many others on the shelves... Wyld's three narratives are artfully crafted to suit the shifting time frames.

—— Scottish Field

Wyld's ingeniously linked narratives weave a haunting tale of fear and defiance.

—— Jane Shilling , Daily Mail

A novel of such subtlety and hope

—— Ross Raisin, author of A NATURAL , Observer, *Summer Reads of 2022*
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