Mother Mary Comes to Me

Brave and absorbing . . . In this remarkable memoir, the Booker-winning novelist looks back on her bittersweet relationship with her mercurial mother . . . The world described in the first part of the book provides much of the material for The God of Small Things. But these pages aren’t significant for giving us access to Roy’s inspiration, or as a preamble to her life as a bestselling writer who would go on to become an oppositional political voice. Even if she were none of these things or had never written her novel, they would be utterly absorbing. They have a wonderful, self-assured self-sufficiency ― Guardian Beautifully written . . . It is a total pleasure to spend time with Arundhati Roy’s mind and memory in this funny, wise, candid and perceptive memoir ― Independent, 'Book of the Month' (5 stars) The book has the lyricism of Gabriel García Márquez, the political sweep of Barbara Kingsolver, and the antic family humour of David Sedaris ― Financial Times The best piece of non-fiction she has ever written ― The Telegraph Feels like the best kind of fiction ― The Economist Arundhati Roy writes in characteristically dazzling prose . . . This memoir teems with irreverent humour and acerbic, often brilliant insights ― Irish Independent Sharp, irreverent, wickedly funny . . . unsettling, bruising, often brutal, yet ultimately life-affirming ― BBC News

Arundhati Roy is the author of the Booker Prize-winning novel The God of Small Things. Her non-fiction writings include The Algebra of Infinite Justice, Listening to Grasshoppers, Broken Republic, and Capitalism: A Ghost Story, and most recently, Things That Can and Cannot Be Said, co-authored with John Cusack. Arundhati Roy lives in New Delhi.