Books

Amateur sleuthing, a complicated mother-daughter relationship and a cathartic end to a provocative series

- Crystal Matthews

All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman

Thirty-one-year-old Florence Grimes has a lifelong habit of taking the easy way out. Single, broke and still licking her wounds after the spectacular collapse of her girl-band career, she has exactly one reason to get out of bed in the morning: her 10-year-old son Dylan. But when Dylan's classmate (and local frozen-food empire heir) Alfie Risby mysteriously vanishes during a school trip, Dylan becomes the prime suspect.

To clear his name (or at least cover up the increasingly suspicious evidence that Dylan might know more than he's letting on), Flo decides to play detective. She is, of course, entirely unqualified for the role, but thankfully Jenny, the composed and capable new mom at Dylan's fancy school, hasn't yet been warned off by the other parents. She and Flo couldn't be more different, but Jenny's looking for a project – and Flo's a mess with a mystery on her hands. Together, they start sleuthing.

No offence to Flo, but there's a reason all the other mothers hate her.

And while those mothers are insufferable, Flo... well, she really is a terrible mom (and I say that as someone who's probably not winning any parenting awards). Still, she grows on you. She's funny, chaotic, self-deprecating and kind of irresistible in a hot-mess-who-means-well kind of way. She's definitely not Sherlock Holmes, but somehow she gets the job done.

I laughed, I rolled my eyes, I cheered and I inhaled every page. – Eleanor le Riche

Blood's Inner Rhyme by Antjie Krog

An autobiographical novel