Staff Pick
There’s no room for human fallibility in the dystopia of Jessamine Chan’s debut novel, so when Frida Liu — overwhelmed, sleep deprived, and desperate for a moment of reprieve — has a lapse in judgment as a mother, the consequences are swift and dire. Frida’s journey is a harrowing one, and the world she inhabits — where resources that could be used to support people are instead used to monitor, isolate, and punish them — hardly feels far-fetched. A tense, engrossing tale that stings with parental love and longing. Recommended By Tove H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
In this taut and explosive debut novel, one lapse in judgement lands a young mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance.
Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn't have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents' sacrifices. She can't persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with Harriet, their cherubic daughter, does Frida finally attain the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she is just enough.
Until Frida has a very bad day.
The state has its eyes on mothers like Frida. The ones who check their phones, letting their children get injured on the playground; who let their children walk home alone. Because of one moment of poor judgment, a host of government officials will now determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother's devotion.
Faced with the possibility of losing Harriet, Frida must prove that a bad mother can be redeemed. That she can learn to be good.
A searing page-turner that is also a transgressive novel of ideas about the perils of "perfect" upper-middle class parenting; the violence enacted upon women by both the state and, at times, one another; the systems that separate families; and the boundlessness of love, The School for Good Mothers introduces, in Frida, an everywoman for the ages. Using dark wit to explore the pains and joys of the deepest ties that bind us, Chan has written a modern literary classic.
Review
"Enthralling....It's a powerful story, made more so by its empathetic and complicated heroine." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
Review
"An enthralling dystopian drama that makes complex points about parenting with depth and feeling." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Gutting and terrifying. Vivid and exquisite. In The School for Good Mothers, you'll find not only your favorite novel of the year, but also a new cultural touchstone, a reference point for the everyday horrors all parents experience and take for granted. This book is sharp, shocking, anxiety-provoking, superb. It is exactly what you want, and need, to read." Julia Phillips, author of Disappearing Earth
Review
"A terrifying novel about mass surveillance, loneliness, and the impossible measurements of motherhood — The School for Good Mothers is a timely and remarkable debut." Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House
Review
"The School for Good Mothers is an astonishing novel. Heartbreaking and daring, propulsive and wise. In the way that The Handmaid's Tale made us fear for women's bodies, The School for Good Mothers makes us fear for women's souls. It's hard to distill all the love and longing this book contains, and how electrifying it is to be immersed in Chan's world. So let me just say, I read with my heart in my throat and I held my kids tight." Diane Cook, author of The New Wilderness
Video
Watch the Powell’s virtual event with Jessamine Chan and Rachel Yoder!
About the Author
Jessamine Chan's short stories have appeared in Tin House and Epoch. A former reviews editor at Publishers Weekly, she holds an MFA from Columbia University's School of the Arts and a BA from Brown University. Her work has received support from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the Wurlitzer Foundation, the Jentel Foundation, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, the Anderson Center, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Ragdale Foundation. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and daughter.
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