Caly recommends | Is Mother Dead - Vigdis Hjorth

Caly says... A sharp, immersive and entirely captivating rumination on mothers, daughters and disjointed families. Following a daughter who is struggling to come to terms with her estranged mother, this is an addictive and psychological novel about unearthing the past and the many different versions of reality. Beautifully written and achingly intimate.

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'To mother is to murder, or close enough', thinks Johanna, as she looks at the spelling of the two words in Norwegian. She's recently widowed and back in Oslo after a long absence as she prepares for a retrospective of her art. The subject of her work is motherhood and some of her more controversial paintings have brought about a dramatic rift between parent and child. This new proximity, after decades of acrimonious absence, set both women on edge, and before too long Johanna finds her mother stalking her thoughts, and Johanna starts stalking her mother's house.