The Mothers

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The reappearance of Mariela Fairman’s husband, seven years after he mysteriously vanished, launches her into a tortuous whirlpool of love, guilt, hope and loss. Living on the south west coast of Ireland in a dilapidated manor house that is both a retreat and a prison, struggling to raise her cold and rejecting son, and caring for a man who is confused and dangerous, Mariela fights to make sense of who she is. As her life intertwines with those of two other women, both with their own secrets, she learns how, and crucially, where, to look for meaning, even if it challenges her to accept the existence of a world beyond the human one she knows.

The Mothers is a thoughtful and provocative story of maternal guilt, a modern fairy tale that asks what we think we know and how we understand what happens to us. It follows one woman’s quest for survival as her dreams disintegrate and she is thrust into an existence that sets life against death, reality against fantasy, and motherhood against selfhood.

Deliciously melancholy storytelling

A great build-up of mysteries to unpack as the story continues

The language and imagery used in this piece are wonderful, a joy to read

• Judges’ feedback, Jericho Writers Friday Night Live Competition 2020