Review The Mother – Yvette Edwards

The Mother tells the story of a happily married couple, Marcia and Lloydie, and their teenage son, Ryan. The boy is well behaved and cares for other people. Then one day Ryan is killed by another teenager. Lloydie’s and Marcia’s life fall apart. Marcia feels very certain about watching justice done to the killer. So she attends every meeting in court.

Husband

Her husband can’t do it. He tries to protect himself by ignoring everything around him. Especially anything having to do with his dead son. Including the care Marcia needs. Marcia needs to talk it through, Lloyd hides away. Their marriage is about to break up.

Court

Fortunately Marcia finds what little comfort she can get from her sister Lorna. The book mainly tells about the hours in court and Marcia’s reaction to the killer and his mother. How can the mother of the boy who killed her son seem so calm and uncaring?

Girlfriend

When Marcia finds out that Ryan had a girlfriend, she won’t believe it at first. Her little boy was nowhere near that stage in life, yet. But a mother doesn’t know everything about her teenage son, no matter how close they are. The girlfriend with the silly name of ‘Sweetie’, turns out to not only be Ryan’s girlfriend, but she’s also the ex-girlfriend of the killer. And she’s about to give the killer the strong alibi he needs to regain his freedom.

Unexpected

Sweetie is scared she will be the next dead teenager. Then everything takes an unexpected turn. And the people Ryan left behind seem to have a future they never believed in, anymore. The book ends in a hopeful message.

Author

Yvette Edwards grew up in Hackney, London, where she still lives with her husband. Her first book: ‘A cupboard full of coats’ was nominated for a number of awards and was the best book her mom ever read. This book ‘The Mother‘ is her husbands ‘one of the top two favorite of all times’, which shows you the family’s humor.

Not wrong

But both her mom and her husband can’t be totally wrong. And after reading ‘The Mother’ I have to agree that I really liked it and can’t wait to read her first book as well. She writes well and she knows how to give her characters a strong voice. A voice we can all recognize but hope to never find the use for.