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A mother and son, estranged for many years, reckon at last with the secret that has kept them apart in this highly anticipated novel by one of the most talented American writers of his generation
At forty, Peter, an asylum lawyer in New York City, is overworked and isolated. He spends his days immersed in the struggles of immigrants only to return to an empty apartment and occasional hook-ups with a man who wants more than Peter can give. But when the asylum case of a young gay man pierces Peter's numbness, the event that he has avoided for twenty years returns to haunt him.
Ann, his mother, who runs a women's retreat centre she founded after leaving his father, is wounded by the estrangement from Peter but cherishes the world she has built. She long ago banished from her mind the decision that divided her from her son. But as Peter’s case plunges him further into the fraught memory of his first love and the night of violence that changed his life forever, he and his mother must confront the secret that tore them apart.
Author: Adam Haslett
Paperback Published 11 February 2025 288 pages
Read and Recommended by Graeme:
"A new novel from Adam Hassett is a major literary event - he has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. As the title suggests the novel concerns a mother and son, but it unravels a mystery as to how they came to be so estranged from one another. Peter is a 40-year-old immigration lawyer in New York City who works on asylum seeker cases. A gay man with some intimacy issues, Peter has avoided taking on gay refugee cases, until a superior compels him to work on the case of a young Albanian. The youth’s situation unlocks memories of Peter’s own teenage experiences and his infatuation with Jared, a beautiful but somewhat enigmatic classmate, during a traumatic period for his family. His mother Ann had left his father for a woman, and his father soon after was diagnosed with cancer and ultimately died. Both mother and son have traumatic coming out stories - Ann was an Episcopal priest. She not only left her husband but also the church, and founded a woman’s retreat with her partner Clare in Vermont. While Peter’s coming out is tied into whatever happened with Jared and the challenging circumstances of his parents. The actual plot of the book puts the characters into some extreme situations, and in a lesser writer’s hands would likely tip into melodrama. Yet the characters are so complex and layered and the writing so psychologically astute, there is never any danger of that. But the environments these main characters are placed in - asylum seeker law, a women’s refuge - are fascinating and add a great depth to the narrative. While the mystery of what happened with Jared keeps the reader turning the pages. Fans of Alan Hollinghurst’s Our Evenings are going to love this smart, complex exploration of the dynamics between a lesbian mother and gay son."
With unsurpassed emotional depth, Mothers and Sons reveals all that is lost by looking away from the past and the love that might be restored by facing it. In his spellbinding new novel, Adam Haslett demonstrates yet again his mastery of "a rich assortment of literary gifts - New York Times