The Mother is the first novel for adults by award winning Australian columnist and author, novelist, broadcaster, and documentary writer, Jane Caro. What would make a well-respected widow in her sixties travel to a distant town to buy a gun? That’s what Miriam Duffy is doing. For the why, we need to travel back a few years…

When Pete Franklin was still alive, he and Miriam were happy to see their jumpy, brittle younger daughter, Allison marry the love of her life, veterinarian Nick Carruthers, after a whirlwind romance. They both liked the charming man who had swept their daughter off her feet. Taking her away to Dungog, where he would join a practice, meant they would see her less, but surely they would visit?

Too soon after, Pete died. Miriam and her daughters were consumed by grief, but Ally’s pregnancy jolted Miriam: she needed to emerge from the fog to support her daughter. But their relationship had never been the easy in-tune bond that Ally had with Pete, and Miriam found it difficult to judge the balance between giving Ally space, privacy, independence and showing interest, care, love. Pete had always been the voice of reason when her doubts assailed her, but now he wasn’t there…

While she kept busy with her real estate business, Miriam didn’t see her daughter and grandson nearly enough. She felt fobbed off, Ally often dissembling when it came to arrangements, or was Miriam just being sensitive? And some of what Nick told her didn’t agree with Ally’s version of how things were. But Nick invariably presented as caring, rational and reasonable.

When Ally and her young children arrived on her doorstep, Miriam was shocked, almost incredulous, at what her daughter related. Emotional abuse and coercive control had been endured, but Nick’s violence brought intolerable fears for her children. Neither Ally nor Miriam quite envisaged the campaign of harassment this man would wage to gain custody of those children. And the police, the law, seemed powerless to protect them. “She could hear fate approaching sometimes, like a runaway train heading towards them as they stood frozen on the tracks” Miriam had to act…

All aspects of this novel, including the characters and their behaviour, the plot and the setting, are thoroughly believable. Caro’s depiction of an abusive relationship, the hidden and often insidious effect of a controlling partner, and exactly what that entails, feels truly authentic. She demonstrates how clues to controlling behaviour often only apparent in hindsight to those at a remove; how women who call out this behaviour are often painted as hysterical or delusional; and how frustrating the impotence of the law must be. Topical, relevant and thought-provoking.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by Allen &Unwin.