The Mothers

I vividly remember Rod Jones’ 1986 novel Julia Paradise, the story of a Scottish psychoanalyst and his eponymous patient set in pre-war China. It quite justifiably caused a sensation with its exploration of female sexuality and earned the then young author accolades. The Mothers is Jones’ sixth novel. It’s a quietly moving story of three secrets and three women whose lives intersect over three generations.

When her husband brings home his mistress, Alma takes her two children and leaves. It’s 1917 in the midst of the war in working-class Footscray. Alma has nowhere to go and a young man takes pity on her and takes her home where his widowed mother offers the young family shelter. When Alma falls pregnant her daughter, Molly, is born secretly and in shame.

Many years later, Anna falls in love with the dashing young man from the family next door; when she becomes pregnant, Neil abandons her and her family shunts her off to a Salvation Army home for unmarried mothers where she is forced to give up her baby.

Meanwhile, Alma’s daughter Molly is childless and yearns for a child. Years later, all three families’ lives intersect, offering some hope that the secrets and their attendant sadness will come to some positive resolution. If you like Colm Toíbín’s work, I’m sure you will love this book. The Mothers is a terrific achievement for Jones and will, I hope, introduce him to many new readers.

Mark Rubbo