Loved this. It’s on the Booker Prize shortlist; it had the longest odds when I first looked but now I’ve read it the odds have shortened. At least that’s how it looks from here.

Fabulous family story dealing, as the title implies, with mothers; the beginnings and the ends of lives, and the complications in between. Fabulously readable from the first page. I liked the changing viewpoints, long sections to start with and then muddling up as the story got more involved. I didn’t like some of the characters very much at all but loved their story.

I read The Secret River recently which I also liked and which is also on the Booker shortlist. I’d back this one over it I think, but they are both worth a read. I don’t think I’ll manage to obtain the other four or read them before the winner is announced though!