Mother Tongue (Naima Brown, Macmillan)

Naima Brown’s cleverly titled second novel Mother Tongue is a gripping, exquisitely layered story that deals with extremes and challenges conventional morality. The protagonist, Brynn, upends the assumption that mothers must always put their children first. After waking from a coma speaking only French, she realises she wants out of her relationship with her husband, Eric, who is treading further and further into the dangerous depths of xenophobia and authoritarianism, and out of her life with their five-year-old daughter, Jenny. Brown (The Shot) meticulously constructs most of her characters: Eric’s descent into extremism turns disturbing as he finds comfort in a wooden volute and treads down irretrievable paths; Lisa, Brynn’s ex-best friend, is consumed by monstrous envy that threatens to erode her own sense of identity; and Jenny’s adolescence bears the deep, lingering wound of her mother’s unexplained abandonment. However, Brynn sometimes feels underexplored, and her abrupt move to France and new life creates a jarring shift. The narrative leap distances the reader from her journey, making it harder to fully connect with her transformation. Just when it seems this emotional gap might be bridged, Brown propels the novel into a fast-paced, captivating second half, culminating in a completely unexpected ending. Mother Tongue is a stirring read for readers who enjoy the exploration of protagonists defying the social norms of motherhood such as in Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Shivani Prabhu is a Melbourne-based writer and editor. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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