Mother and Son

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Published on Sunday, 11 May 2014 12:10

Last Updated on 09 May 2014

alison kervin

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Hello,

I’m a novelist & journalist…I’m also a mum. And I have to say that the way mothers are portrayed in fiction DRIVES ME NUTS.

Think about the books you’ve read which focus on being a mother…it’s all about the hard work, the difficulties, the mess and the way in which your life is taken away from you.
What about the good stuff??? Where is the joy of being a mum reflected in modern fiction?

Of course it’s hard to be a mum. No-one’s claiming that it’s easy.

I’m a single mum, and I work – I find it really tough. I get exhausted, run down and exasperated like anyone else, but if anyone asked me what it’s like to be a mum I’d say it’s great. Life is brighter, more colourful and chaotic. I’d use words like ‘love ‘and ‘laughter’ to describe it. I wouldn’t mention being tired or the house being a mess. So why is fiction representing motherhood so one-dimensional?

The same doesn’t apply to fathers, by the way. Kramer v Kramer was a portrayal of a father’s love for his son… The Pursuit of Happyness is about a father’s determination to do the best for his son. Man & Boy is about a father’s love for his son.

Yet all the mums I know are brilliant, loving, bright and attentive. They love their kids.

We need female characters who adore kids, love being mothers AND have lives and adventures. I’m not suggesting that women ‘have it all’ and attempt to be astro-physicists, supermodels, wild and crazy lovers and perfect mums. All I think is that you can have fun and happiness as a mother without abandoning everything that made you what you were before you had children. You can be ‘you’ – mother & woman.

Anyway – the bottom-line is that I got so fed up with the negative views of women as moany and miserable mothers, that I wrote a novel of my own!

I’ve written a tale about a lovely single mum called Georgie who adores her son. She’s brought him up on her own after her partner left when she was pregnant…then one day, the father reappears…with his mother…so now there are two sets of mothers and sons.

I loved writing it and I’m hopelessly in love with the mother and son. There’s sex, drama, fashion, boyfriends and humour along the way, but this is a novel about mums – the fun, silliness, nonsense and delight of bringing up a child.

I’ve written 15 books before, but I’m particularly proud of this one…rather than go through a publisher as I have for my other books, I’ve published it myself – straight onto Amazon – so it’s only £2 and full of the joy, fascination, bewilderment and concern of being a mum.

I really, really hope you enjoy it.

This is the link: http://amzn.to/1fZAGo6

Have a read, see what you think, and do let me know your views… – I’d love to hear from you.

I’m writing the follow up at the moment – Mother & Teenage Son – and Georgie, my mum at the centre of the story, is getting into all sorts of new scrapes…but the thing that doesn’t change, is a great love for her son.

Thank you,

Alison xx