Like Mother (Cassandra Austin, Hamish Hamilton)

It’s 1969 in small-town Australia and new mother Louise can barely leave her own house or step beyond the shadow of her controlling mother, Gladys. With a constantly crying baby, and her husband Steven away selling fridges, an exhausted Louise is struggling to keep things together at home. Upon waking to a silent house one morning, Louise finds her baby missing from the cot in which she last left her. At least, she thinks that’s where she left her. Like Mother unfolds in a day, tracking Louise’s apparent unravelling via the three alternating voices of Louise, Steven and Gladys. All have secrets, and their questionable reliability as narrators adds intrigue and a sense of unease to a story that excavates the depths of shame, guilt and grief. I had a minor quibble with implausibility in places, but Cassandra Austin writes compelling characters and skilfully encapsulates the era. Her portrayal of women’s roles in the home in the 1960s, with all the associated feelings of loneliness, powerlessness and entrapment, is particularly well conveyed. Like Mother will appeal to lovers of women’s fiction with a dark edge. Strains of Mommie Dearest can be found in the co-dependent mother–daughter relationship, while the central mystery of the missing baby will ensure rapidly turning pages.

Deborah Crabtree is a Melbourne-based writer and bookseller.

Category: Reviews