Mother

Chosen by Bernardine Evaristo as one of her Top 20 Books by Black British Womxn Writers, Yvvette Edwards' second novel, The Mother, tells Marcia's story.Marcia Williams thought she knew her son. She thought he was safe. She was wrong . . . Today, Marcia is heading to the Old Bailey. She's going there to do something no mother should ever have to do: to attend the trial of the boy accused of her son's murder. She's not meant to be that woman; Ryan, her son, wasn't that kind of boy. But Tyson Manley is that kind of a boy and, as his trial unfolds, it becomes clear that it's his girlfriend Sweetie who has the answers Marcia so badly needs and who can – perhaps – offer Marcia some kind of hope for the future. But Sweetie is as scared of Tyson as Ryan should have been and, as Marcia's learned the hard way, nothing's certain. Not any more.'Skillfully plotted and heart-wrenching' – Stylist'Thrilling, tense and poignant' – Heat

As emotionally satisfying as it is simply constructed, The Mother tells the tale of every woman's worst nightmare: losing a child, then having to face in court the man accused of murdering that child . . . A powerful scenario, and Yvvette Edwards, in only her second novel, explores it with skill and subtlety, finding shards of humanity in her bitter, combustible narrator, Skilfully plotted and heart-wrenching, Thrilling, tense and poignant, A compelling novel that gets into the head of a mother attending the trial of the boy accused of murdering her son. Her story gathers momentum and tension until the final verdict, A harrowing tale of a mother's grief where nothing is certain

Yvvette Edwards lives in London. Her first novel, A Cupboard Full of Coats, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize. The Mother is her second novel.