The Mothers by Brit Bennett

My son Sam discovered Britt Bennett’s 2016 debut novel The Mothers and gave it to me for the holidays. I am grateful he did. Written by a young woman with a fresh new voice, Bennett’s prose is precise and penetrating. With wisdom and empathy she captures the travails of three teenagers who are struggling to find their places in the world under the weight of grief, a secret, and poor decision making.  

Set in San Diego County, these three black teens connect through their involvement with a church in their community called the Upper Room. The “mothers” of the church serve as the collective narrator for the novel and a loose emotional safety net for these kids. These “mothers” observe, critique, love, and serve their church community with graciousness, and pettiness too.

The novel’s three high school kids are naïve and well meaning yet confused teenagers. And for good reason. Nadia Turner’s mother recently committed suicide and Nadia’s father is in a fog. Aubrey Evan’s mother abandoned her and Aubrey now lives with her sister and her sister’s partner. And Luke Sheppard, the son of the Upper Room’s pastor, has dropped out of college due to an athletic injury and feels depressed that his best days are behind him.

Without their mothers, Nadia and Aubrey struggle with feelings of isolation and shame. They both feel inferior because their mothers chose to leave them. They don’t often discuss their missing mothers, but find comfort and connection with each other and become like sisters. The narrator says, “It was strange, learning the contours of another’s loneliness. You could never know it all at once; like stepping inside a dark cave, you felt along the walls, bumped into jagged edges.” 

In high school Nadia dates Luke. Their relationship ends due to an unexpected circumstance and Nadia’s imminent enrollment at the University of Michigan. Aubrey takes classes at the local junior college and Luke waits tables at a local restaurant. Before long Aubrey and Luke are in a serious relationship.  The years pass and neither Nadia nor Luke tells Aubrey about their high school romance. Their motivations are not malicious. Neither of them wants to hurt Aubrey. Seven years later, Nadia returns from the University of Chicago Law School to attend Luke and Aubrey’s wedding. When Aubrey becomes aware of Luke and Nadia’s prior relationship and their unfinished business, her pain is excruciating. The betrayals affect the entire Upper Room community.

It is hard to read about Nadia and Luke’s poor choices. Bennett makes you feel anger and empathy toward them at the same time. Nadia is more isolated than Aubrey and makes worse judgments. Despite her strong intellect and warm personality, her wounds are deep. Nadia seeks to sabotage her own happiness at every turn. Like a Shakespeare tragedy, she seems doomed to destroy not only herself but those who love her most. The "mothers" help these motherless girls, but there is only so much they can do. There are no grief counselors, social workers or psychologists in the story; just kids and adults doing the best they can with the lives they were given.