Title: All My Mothers
Author: Joanna Glen
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Synopsis:
London, 1980s. Though she has a comfortable, privileged life, Eva Martínez-Green is deeply unhappy. The only child of an emotionally absent mother and a physically absent father, Eva has grown up in a cold, unloving house. But Eva is convinced that all is not as it seems. Why are there no baby pictures of her? Why do her parents avoid all questions about her early years?
When her parents’ relationship crumbles, Eva begins looking for a different, better life: a proper family, a perfect mother, and, importantly, real love. Her desire to find where she belongs leads Eva on a journey spanning years and continents – and, along the way, she meets women who challenge her idea of what a mother should be, and who will change her life forever…
My review:
All My Mothers is a touching story about family, self discovery and friendship which manages to strike just the right balance between sweet and sad.
The book has plenty of emotional moments where you really feel for Eva, whose mother is quite detached from her and her father leaves them both when Eva is young. Eva has always felt like her mother isn’t actually her birth mother but doesn’t have the proof. This wonder and uncertainty out to be something that affects a lot of her life.
We follow Eva as she makes a life long friend in Bridget Blume and her lovely family – particularly Bridget’s mother who feels like a really lifeline to Eva. Their relationship grows and changes and there are some really heartbreaking moments throughout this novel. Eva continues to search for her ‘real’ mother, and this leads her to time abroad in Córdoba during university where the setting of the book becomes even more atmospheric!
This book is beautifully written and takes the reader through Eva’s life with sensitivity and wonder, through the hard times and the moments of happiness. Underlying it all, though, is Eva’s uncertainty about where she really came from and this is something she is determined to find out more about.
I loved All My Mothers, perhaps even more than The Other Half of Augusta Hope (also by Joanna Glen, which I also really enjoyed). I’d really recommend this beautiful read.