©2024 Fable Group Inc.
3.5 

You Be Mother

By Meg Mason
You Be Mother by Meg Mason digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

What do you do, when you find the perfect family, and it's not yours? A charming, funny and irresistible novel about families, friendship and tiny little white lies.

The only thing Abi ever wanted was a proper family. So when she falls pregnant by an Australian exchange student in London, she cannot pack up her old life in Croydon fast enough, to start all over in Sydney and make her own family. It is not until she arrives, with three-week-old Jude in tow, that Abi realises Stu is not quite ready to be a father after all. And he is the only person she knows in this hot, dazzling, confusing city, where the job of making friends is turning out to be harder than she thought. That is, until she meets Phyllida, her wealthy, charming, imperious older neighbour, and they become almost like mother and daughter. If only Abi had not told Phil that teeny tiny small lie, the very first day they met…

Imagine the warmth of Monica McInerney, the excruciating awkwardness of Offspring and the wit of Liane Moriarty, all rolled into one delightful, warm, funny and totally endearing novel about families – the ones we have, and the ones we want – and the stories we tell ourselves about them.

'Rare and delightful ... a beautifully crafted novel about female relationships. I couldn't put this book down.' Clare Press, Fashion Editor-at-large, Marie Claire

'You Be Mother is the kind of book you pick up...and never want to put down ... you will fall in love with this book.' Lauren Sams, author of She's Having Her Baby

Download the free Fable app

app book lists

Stay organized

Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
app book recommendations

Build a better TBR

Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
app book reviews

Rate and review

Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
app comments

Curate your feed

Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities
app book lists

Stay organized

Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
app book recommendations

Build a better TBR

Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
app book reviews

Rate and review

Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
app comments

Curate your feed

Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities

120 Reviews

3.5
Slightly Smiling Face
UnengagingPredictableUnsatisfying plot
“Will never compare to Sorrow and Bliss, and that’s alright. But, it was still a beautiful story. Creating your own family when the cards that you have been dealt haven’t really worked well is a theme that I personally love. But still, there was something missing about the writing. Something off, though I cannot exactly pinpoint what. Maybe this one turned Mason into the writer I love. And I am grateful for that! I feel that a little more on Abi’s childhood and her relationship (or the lack of it) with her mother would have made the book a lot better. Everything was at surface level although it is very much readable. (Ugh Niks, stop defending Mason just because you adore Sorrow and Bliss.)”

About Meg Mason

Meg Mason began her career at The Financial Times and The Times of London. Her work has since appeared in The Sunday Times, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sunday Telegraph. She has written humour for The New Yorker and Sunday STYLE, a monthly column for GQ, and was a regular contributor to Vogue, ELLE and marie claire, before turning to fiction full-time.

Her first book Say It Again in a Nice Voice (HarperCollins), a memoir of early motherhood, was published in 2012. Her novel You Be Mother (HarperCollins) followed in 2017. Sorrow and Bliss, her third novel was published in 2020. She lives in Sydney, with her husband and two daughters.

Other books by Meg Mason

Start a Book Club

Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!

FAQ

Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?

Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?

How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?

Do you sell physical books too?

Are book clubs free to join on Fable?

How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?

Error Icon
Save to a list
0
/
30
0
/
100
Private List
Private lists are not visible to other Fable users on your public profile.
Notification Icon
Fable uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB