The School for Good Mothers: A Novel by Jessamine Chan

Chan Longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
Longlisted for the 2023 Carnegie Medal for Excellence
Shortlisted for The Center for Fiction 2022 First Novel Prize

In this New York Times bestseller and Today show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick, one lapse in judgement lands a young Mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance, in this “surreal” (People), “remarkable” (Vogue), and “infuriatingly timely” (The New York Times Book Review) debut novel.

Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices. She can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with Harriet, their cherubic daughter, does Frida finally attain the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she is just enough.

Until Frida has a very bad day.

The state has its eye on mothers like Frida. The ones who check their phones, letting their children get injured on the playground; who let their children walk home alone. Because of one moment of poor judgement, a host of government officials will now determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother’s devotion.

Faced with the possibility of losing Harriet, Frida must prove that a bad mother can be redeemed. That she can learn to be good.

Rave Reviews:

An “intense” “captivating” page-turner that is also a transgressive novel of ideas about the perils of “perfect” upper-middle class parenting; the violence enacted upon women by both the state and, at times, one another; the systems that separate families; and the boundlessness of love, The School for Good Mothers introduces, in Frida, an everywoman for the ages. Using dark wit to explore the pains and joys of the deepest ties that bind us, Chan has written a modern literary classic.

It sounds dark and weird, and it is kind of dark and weird, but I found it really, really absorbing.” —Linda Holmes, NPR

“It’s about Big Things like state violence, family separation, so-called “perfect parenting,” and the unrealistic demands of motherhood, with a little sci-fi fun!” —NYLON

Chick Lit Cafe highly recommends The School for Good Mothers: A Novel by Jessamine Chan

Buy The School for Good Mothers: A Novel by Jessamine Chan

The School for Good Mothers: A Novel by Jessamine Chan
Awarded first place for
Women’s Fiction, Family Life  & Domestic Thriller
CLC Book Excellence Award

Authors: To submit your book for qualification for a book review and/or book promotion, feel free to contact Chick Lit Café Author Services today! Author spotlight,  book reviews, book promotion, extensive book & author marketing,
Read Chick Lit Cafe’s author testimonials and success stories here.