I’m a sucker for a story that focuses on some juicy family drama, particularly when it centers around parent and child relationships. The mother/daughter relationship at the heart of Heidi Reimer’s new novel, The Mother Act is about as dramatic and juicy as it gets. Navigating the messy waters of societal expectation, bucking the trend, and the importance of being able to see things from someone else’s perspective, The Mother Act explores what it’s like to grow up with a mother whose opinions are loud, strong, and don’t always take other people’s feelings into account. At the same time, it examines how a woman can find herself questioning everything she thought she knew about herself and what she wanted (and what can happen when you get something you wanted and it isn’t anything like what you thought it would be… or perhaps it’s just that it’s your worst nightmares of how it could be come to life).

Sadie Jones has made her name by very publicly confronting the biggest societal taboos around motherhood, beginning with the one-woman show about how much becoming a mother had twisted and taken over her sense of self, taking a sledgehammer to her dreams and her relationship. As much as her father tried to protect her from the whole truth, Jude has always struggled with just what to make of her mother and how to improve their relationship. She wants her mother to be part of her life but whenever they’re around each other, Sadie tends to steamroll and intimidate her daughter with her forceful opinions and self-centered approach to life. As Jude grows up and spends more time ultimately working alongside her mother, they begin to clash before a major, public falling out. Two years later, Sadie has reached out to Jude to try to repair the relationship… by inviting Jude to her new one-woman show about their fraught relationship. Will Sadie’s gesture work? Or has their relationship deteriorated beyond salvation?

There were so many thematic elements in The Mother Act that resonated with me personally. Perhaps the biggest was the way that Jude and Sadie’s personalities simply weren’t compatible and how that exacerbated their already fraught relationship. Sadie is a steamroller when it comes to the people in her life and her daughter is no exception, but given what Jude learned about her mother leaving and her very publicly expressed feelings about motherhood, it makes it that much harder for Jude to assert herself with her mother until her frustration finally overflows in a big way. I’m definitely more of a Jude, trying to be tactful when certain people in my life push hard for there way, but it reaches a point where things just boil over. Sometimes it’s only when that happens that people will pause to actually listen and realize that yes, there are other people around and they have feelings that also should be respected and taken into account. The real question, as with Sadie and Jude, is will they actually stop, reflect, and grow or will they get defensive and shut down further?

The structure of the novel helps to balance the two perspectives as the reader first sees Sadie through her daughter’s eyes and then flashes back to Sadie’s own early adulthood and the choices she made leading up to choosing to become a mother. The reader gets to see Jude’s understanding of her mother evolve with time as, gradually, her perspective on her father and his role shifts as well. Being the one who stayed and always made her feel wanted and loved, a priority, she hesitated to cast him in any role in her life but hero until she reaches adulthood and the ways he makes excuses for Sadie begin to grate on her. From the flashbacks, it becomes clear how the relationship between Sadie and Damian only began to fall apart when their dynamic shifted so drastically with the introduction of Jude. It’s interesting to see later in the book, those ways that personality and circumstance can be what makes or breaks a relationship or situation. If Jude had been an easier baby – less fussy and more pliable… or if Sadie had possessed a greater wealth of patience and was less self-centered, more practical and forward thinking, a planner instead of so susceptible to impulsive decisions… If just a little bit had been different, everything might have turned out differently. And yet, there’s a sense of inevitability to it all and a determination to try to fix things, to not give up because just trying is worth something.

This was so complex and well written. I love that it was written as a play and separated into acts. The dual timelines and switching of perspectives between Sadie and Jude made for such a strong narrative where we were able to see from both sides how their lives played out and why Sadie (but also Jude at times) made the decisions that she made. I have so many mixed thoughts on Sadie. Overall I loathe her and I'm angry at her. But it REALLY tells a story of a woman who struggles from the beginning to connect with her daughter and how this complicated relationship between the two affects each life.

Team Sadie or Team Jude? This is an immersive and emotional novel that moves back and forth in time and between narrators to tell the story of the non-relationship between a mother and daughter. Sadie never wanted to be a mother but then she had Jude and when she could no longer cope, she abandoned her 18 month old for her husband Damien to raise. Jude becomes part of the acting dynasty of her parents after spending her childhood with Damien's roving company and she keeps a list of the times she sees Sadie. Sadie for her part becomes a feminist hero for her play about motherhood. These two are on a collision course for sure but what happens? No spoilers from me but know that it all blows up when Jude is an adult. It's easy to be judge-y about Sadie and honestly, Reimer doesn't do much to soften her. There's a lot to chew over (this would be a good book club selection) and then there's the Shakespeare! Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's a terrific read.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Heidi Reimer, and Penguin Group Dutton for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I'm feeling all the feelings finishing this book. What daughter doesn't have a slightly complicated relationship with her mother, even if they are close? I love my mother and do feel close to her, but finding out I was queer and wanted to live a different life than her proved to be difficult and is still something I'm working through both with and in regard to her going on 6 years now. And I don't anticipate it will ever end. Reimer's writing is SO beautiful; this was truly a gripping story filled with lovely prose that hit me so hard. I could empathize with both Sadie and Jude in so many different ways. The pacing of the story and the narrative thread of sharing perspectives from each woman worked incredibly well and benefitted the story. As a reader, it was difficult to be the only person with both sides of the story, as Jude and Sadie moved through their own experiences only seeing their own and a limited view of the other's. Both women are flawed, and no one is correct. Sadie is definitely way more unlikable than Jude, but as a woman who values independence, I could still relate to her. My biggest complaint was that there were big jumps in the timeline from when we would see a character and then next pick up their story, and I think it would have been a bit better to get an inside glance to some of those "lost" years. Reimer's storytelling and writing was so compelling though that this was the only major flaw I felt the book had, and I am already so ready to read her next novel.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎, 𝒊𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒊𝒕? 𝑰 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇, 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅. 𝑬𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔.

Jude has grown up feeling overlooked and neglected by her famous mother Sadie, in fact, she has kept a minimal list of visits with her mom throughout her lifetime (when the book begins, that lifetime is thirteen years). It is evident they are not close and that it is her father she adores, is loyal to, trusts. She has forever known about the play her feminist mother wrote and performed, The Mother Act (in short about the horrors and grim realities of motherhood). What her father does not know is that she read it, secretly, and it is a deep wound. Though she had been forewarned by her father that she could misinterpret the sentiments within, it was her only chance to discover the reasons why her mother left when Jude was a toddler. It is not about Sadie’s struggles, it is about not wanting to be a mother, the demands too heavy a burden to manage. Jude is burned by the knowledge that she was unwanted, despised even and that a creative life was worth more than being her mother. That Sadie is famous for rejecting Jude is a damning reality, one that Jude has had to bear the cross of. Now, she has the chance to get her mother’s attention, to prove her worth when Jude performs onstage in The Tempest. Jude’s life is all about acting too, touring with her father’s Shakespearian theater company, it is at his knee that she becomes a talented actress in her own right and through him she has a solid anchor, a guide. But absence shapes a child as much as presence, and in this complicated drama, we get front row seats.

Sadie overwhelms Jude, her sporadic visits are earthquakes in her life that even growing up on the road never seems to prepare her for. Her father still holds a flame for Sadie, it confuses and angers Jude. How could he love someone who has betrayed them so deeply with her desertion? How could her mother not love her own child? Is Jude defective herself, or is her mother truly a selfish, unaffected, disinterested, vain monster? Who is to blame? And why does Jude feel conflicted, both longing to reject and accept her mother’s attentions?

We journey back to 1989 when Sadie first met Damien (Jude’s father), as she is working with her own feminist theater collective- innovative, provocative, exploding with talent and ambition. There is immediate chemistry between them, and love takes its natural course, leading to hard realities that do not make room for artistic expression. Motherhood is burying her; she does not recognize the person she is becoming, and the world outside is beckoning. A rift is born from her choice. Once Jude is an adult, she faces similar challenges, but is it possible to bridge the distance years of misunderstanding and anger have left behind? Will Jude and Sadie always be strangers? What will happen when Sadie’s sequel hits the stage?

What it means to be a mother and the make-up of a woman is raked over in this complicated story of the expectations and demands of motherhood versus a career, one’s calling. It is also about the mother/daughter relationship, the similarities, differences, resentments, and longings. It must be addressed that Damien has an interesting role in the father/daughter dynamic, being the one who has remained the sole caretaker, in fact fathers are revered for doing what mothers around the world take on without admiration. Truly in the past single mothers were often looked down upon and judged fiercely. Surely this book will launch conversations about feminism, the role of motherhood, and even creativity. It challenges what we owe those we are meant to love most and ourselves. Yes, read it.

Publication Date: April 30, 2024

Penguin Group

Dutton

It’s still quite early in the year, so this might be a tad premature, but I think I just found my favorite debut of 2024. The Mother Act by Heidi Reimer absolutely blew me away, friends! I could not put it down! It’s no secret that I love family dramas, especially ones with a strong focus on motherhood and marriage. This one checks all of those boxes, and then some. It really dives deep into gender roles and expectations, women’s choices and the sacrifices, weight, burdens, and consequences that all come along with it. The characters were all so wonderfully crafted, realistic, flawed, and deeply complex. The reader receives a “two for the price of one” character study with this mother/daughter duo. The format of the novel is pure gold, as it’s uniquely broken into six acts, and presented to the reader like a play. Very clever!

READ THIS IF YOU ENJOY:

- Drama, theater, and the arts
- Multiple perspectives and timelines
- Family drama, dynamics, and dysfunction
- Complex mother/daughter stories
- Feminist undertones
- Reflections on motherhood and marriage
- Epic love stories
- Character studies
- Strong and ambitious female characters

Heidi, your debut gets an enthusiastic “BRAVO!” from me, a huge round of applause, and even a standing ovation. I can’t wait to read more from you in the future. The Mother Act releases on April 30th, and I give it 5/5 stars!

The Mother Act is an amazing exploration of motherhood and relationships between parents and their children. Sadie wrote The Mother Act, her one-woman show about her struggle with motherhood, when her daughter was 18 months old and then promptly left her family to go on tour for the show, never returning. Jude grew up with her father, touring in his Shakespearian theater company and struggling to impress her mother enough to have a relationship with her. This book looks at society's expectations for parents and how having children changes people's lives. It was fascinating to see Sadie and Jude's different perspectives to the people around them and their experience with acting. This book will appeal to readers who enjoy character driven stories, stories about complicated relationships, and readers who are interested in theater.

Wow. This book really packs a punch. As someone who is a theatre artist and new mom myself, it definitely brought up a lot of emotion while reading. There were moments where I had to take breaks, because the power of the novel was overwhelming.

But art is meant to portray the difficult and vulnerable parts of life in ways that aren’t always pretty. And The Mother Act was extremely effective in doing so. I thought it was a beautiful, complex story with characters that were real and not always sympathetic. I’m glad I read it, and I could relate to it on more than one level.

complicated mother/daughter relationships are so common & this books does a great job at displaying that. with the story being written from both sides…… makes the book perfection. chefs kiss. this book touches on so many things and i think everyone should read it

I thought this was a really interesting concept for a actress and the daughter that she left. It had a great overall story going on and had a great feel overall. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and how they worked in this universe. Heidi Reimer does a great style and it had everything that I wanted, the characters felt like real people and glad I got to read this.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this book ahead of publication. I loved it! My review will post to my blog on April 22 and I will also feature it on Instagram that day. The review will also be posted to Fable, The Storygraph, Goodreads and retail sites.

Review:

All of my life, I've loved theatre. I acted in high school and college, and when I moved to Texas, I was involved with a local theatre for 12 years as an actor, stage manager, and director. I loved it, and some of my best friends to this day are friends that I met while doing theatre. It's a world I loved and very much enjoyed being a part of, so when I read the synopsis for this book, I immediately knew I needed to read it. It did not disappoint! This debut - set against the backdrop of the glamorous and sometimes cutthroat theater world - is filled with rich characters and plenty of family drama. It follows the complex relationship between actress Sadie Jones and her daughter Jude, a relationship that is fraught with love, resentment, and plenty of misunderstandings.

Reimer's writing is both clever and compelling, drawing the reader into the lives of Sadie and Jude as their stories unfold in six acts. The mother-daughter relationship at the heart of the novel is portrayed with honesty and depth. Through alternating perspectives and flashbacks, Reimer skillfully explores the impact of Sadie's choices on Jude and the lasting effects of their strained relationship. The alternating timelines and perspectives really benefitted this book. I loved the structure and the way Jude's angst and heartache over her absent mother were established from the beginning, while Sadie was portrayed as a self-absorbed woman who only cared about herself - but ever so slowly, perspectives shifted.

We begin with Jude - now a mature adult - as she arrives at the theatre for a performance of Sadie's one-woman show. Jude doesn't trust her mother, and we learn what's at the core of that mistrust during the first act when we flashback to Jude's thirteenth birthday. She is traveling with her father's Shakespeare-focused theatre troupe, and they have stopped in California for a performance; Sadie will be in attendance. Jude has a list of things she intends to tell her mother, and she has a lot of questions that she wants answered - mainly why her mother wrote and performed a one-woman show titled "The Mother Act" in which she laid out all of the reasons she hated her child and never wanted to be a mother. Was Jude really that unloveable?

This sets the stage for the rest of the book, with each "act" set up with several chapters focusing on Jude as a thirteen-year-old, a summer after high school, and again in her 20s. Within each act, we also see things from Sadie's perspective as she runs away from her conservative home in the Midwest to New York, where she becomes a radical feminist, performs as part of an unconventional theatre troop, meets her future husband and eventually gives birth to Sadie and then one day - up and leaves. Through each act, more and more layers are peeled away, and the balance and our thoughts on each of the characters begin to shift.

At its core, "The Mother Act" is a novel about the choices we make and the consequences that follow, particularly when it comes to balancing personal ambition with familial responsibilities - especially when you are a woman. Reimer delves into complex themes such as gender dynamics, identity, and the nature of artistry, exploring how these factors intersect and shape the lives of her characters. Through Sadie and Jude's struggles and triumphs, the novel poses thought-provoking questions about the expectations placed on women, both as mothers and artists.

I loved this book. I loved the characters, the complex relationships, and the questions it asks. I felt like I knew these characters, and it made me miss my theatre family in Houston; it was almost like coming home. It is a stylish and engaging read that is sure to leave a lasting impact. This is an impressive debut, and I can't wait to read more by this author. I will definitely be adding a hard copy of this book to my shelves when it drops. There's a lot to unpack here, and this is one I'd like to revisit down the road.

What shines brightest for me in The Mother Act is that it goes beyond the experiences of an ordinary mother and daughter dealing with how the role of motherhood affects them. In this story both mother and daughter are actors, therefore expressing emotions is both natural and unnatural for them. Acting has been passionately pursued and developed by one, raised on and conditioned into by the other. While it’s visceral for both, expressing themselves through a “character” is also how they preferably choose to navigate through life, and be the lens through how they wish to express themselves when being themselves is less appealing an option. The Mother Act spotlights the push and pull motherhood demands on Sadie Jones, a struggling actor and fervent feminist who’d only ever viewed it as a threat, and how her choices later affect her daughter Jude.

Our formidable Sadie, an unorthodox actor, wears her heart on her sleeve as she spouts enlightenment on top of her feminist soapbox. She is self-centered, selfish, a narcissist that’s hard to like even in the sections told through her perspective. I don’t think Sadie is meant to be liked and there isn’t any real evidence as to why Damian, Jude’s father, is drawn to her. She’s so assertive about her views it doesn’t even settle as overwhelming. Every single time she’s in a scene she mentions how the patriarchy is bad, how motherhood is entrapping for women, being a mother is the worst thing that could happen to a woman, ultimately women should want more for themselves. And I respect those views, however having it dialed to an eleven in every scene she is present in makes her---as one of the two leading characters---unreachable, unrelatable, and makes it hard to believe she has any allies.

Then there’s her daughter Jude, a more classically trained actor and while a gifted performer, timid, and overly cautious about letting anyone too close to knowing the real her. She’s Sadie’s foil in personality where she isn’t in appearance. While on the surface readers will want to side with her without much evidence, Reimer fleshes her out enough that while we don’t blindly accept why Sadie abandoned her, we do see her as flawed as her mother.

The experiences and traumas of their childhoods and the image of how motherhood is understood by the generation before them set the blueprint for how they will go forward in life.

One of the interesting things I enjoyed regarding the portrayal of acting was that both mother and daughter start with unconventional stages but over time explore other mediums of acting—traditional theater performances or film.

Another fun decision Reimer makes to showcase their dynamic is by setting the stage of her novel using a creative, theater-reminiscent, six act structure in lieu of chapters. We get large doses of the past interwoven through snapshots of the present, see-sawing from mother to daughter, offering perspectives from both. Altogether an excellent character study and enjoyable for anyone in or interested in the theater world.

Finally, I absolutely love a title that takes on multiple meanings.

This warm and witty debut, structured as a play in six acts, depicts a mother-daughter relationship gone horribly wrong. Told from two perspectives, Remmer ingeniously explores themes of motherhood, identity, and ambition. Propulsive, fun to read, thought-provoking and entertaining.

The Mother Act is a novel written as a six act play imbued with the atmospheric theater world. It is a compelling exploration of what it means to be a mother when you have aspirations to be and do so much more. What is the price of self-fulfillment at the expense of those you vowed to cherish and care for; or of abandonment and how that shapes self-image? And what happens, not only when you choose a path that is unconventional and hurtful to others, but you decide to share intimate details of that decision with the public?

My reaction when reading this book was physical. My heart was pounding as if I was reading a thriller. And a way this was. Family drama can sometimes turn into a symbolic blood bath — there are a myriad of ways to inflict harm on those we supposedly love. I clearly was on Jude, the daughter’s team. Sadie was a difficult person to connect with. But many of us have made concessions that she would not abide. Maybe Sadie, despite her often self serving behavior, was brave and we wished we had some of that bravado.

The story:

Sadie ran away from a traditional, religious family and their expectations when she was 17. She had a larger than life personality and fulfilled her dream to live large and out loud. She became an actress and controversial feminist. Sadie never wanted to be a mother. In fact, she went to great lengths to make sure this would never happen. But then she had a change of heart and Jude was born.

When Jude was two, Sadie left her with her father and never made an attempt to connect with her for six years. After that, there were sporadic, brief visits. Jude grew up with her actor father and spent her childhood touring with his Shakespearean company desperate for a real relationship with her mother. That was not to happen. Sadie becomes famous for her one woman play revealing her rage in caring for her baby. As an adult, Jude becomes a successful actress in her own right.

As you can imagine, there is a reckoning worthy of the two women.

The book raises issues of feminism, motherhood, self-identity, and ambition. There is so much to think about. I would highly recommend it as a book club pick.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read this advance reading copy.

I love and miss the theatre. This book indulged my craving for the acting life and plays. Reimer wrote a great mother-daughter story that had dual POV. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

The mother act follows a mother and daughter complicated relationship in the backdrop of the theater world.

If you want a story with a complex mother and daughter relationship than you have found it. This story follows a dual pov from Sadie (mother) and Jude (daughter). The story was beautifully woven together until it reaches the present. This debut was well written, an easy read and doing a deep dive into complex mother and daughter relationship's. It shined light on what people would do for fame and who would they leave behind

Wow. If you like in-depth character studies, this one is excellent. Sadie and Jude have been estranged their entire relationship. Sadie is a feminist who loudly declared at her one woman show that she never wanted to be a mother. Years later Jude is now also a successful actress attending her mother’s new play. Tension and resentment has always run high between these two. I love a family drama and this one is so good! Mother and daughter relationships are often fraught, but this one takes it to a new level. Highly recommend.

Not for me unfortunately; I think I will pass on this for our collection as it just didn't really stand out to me. Nothing new here that I haven't seen before.

Sadie Jones, a dazzling and controversial feminist icon, takes center stage in this emotionally charged narrative that delves into the complexities of motherhood and the pursuit of artistic greatness. In "The Mother Act," author Heidi Reimer skillfully weaves a tale that spans two decades, exploring the intricate relationship between Sadie and her daughter, Jude.

Sadie's larger-than-life persona and her resolute decision to forgo motherhood set the stage for a story that unfolds with profound emotional depth. Jude, the daughter left in the wake of Sadie's ambitions, spends her childhood yearning for acknowledgment and validation from a mother who remains elusive. Sadie's meteoric rise to fame, fueled by her provocative one-woman show, "The Mother Act," thrusts her into the spotlight as a symbol of maternal rage, leaving Jude to grapple with the aftermath.

As the narrative unfolds, the tension between mother and daughter comes to a head on a December evening in the heart of New York City, during the premiere of Sadie's latest play. The stage is set for a poignant exploration of love, resentment, and profound misunderstanding. The intertwined stories of Sadie and Jude unravel, laying bare the raw emotions and unanswered questions that have lingered for years.

"The Mother Act" poses thought-provoking questions about the costs of being a devoted mother and a devoted artist. Reimer skillfully navigates the complexities of Sadie's unapologetic pursuit of greatness and Jude's yearning for maternal connection. The narrative prompts readers to reflect on who gets to decide if the collateral damage is justified in the pursuit of personal and artistic fulfillment.

This novel is a riveting and emotionally charged exploration of the intersections between motherhood and art, leaving readers with a lingering resonance that speaks to the universal struggles of love, ambition, and the choices that shape our lives. "The Mother Act" is a compelling read that dives deep into the human experience, offering a nuanced portrayal of the sacrifices made in the pursuit of passion and the enduring bonds that tie mothers and daughters together.

DO YOU LOVE COMPLICATED MOTHER/DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS?! Me too!

okay, this one was so good. I loved the dynamic between Sadie and Jude, the fact that she was raised by her father (so often fathers abandon the children) and her mother is so selfish and self centered that she can’t even comprehend why leaving her daughter was uncalled for. The story is written from Jude and Sadie’s perspectives, woven together until they meet in the present day. Holy cannoli- talk about a modern day stance on motherhood, empowerment, generational trauma, and the expectations put on us to be mothers.

Well written, easy read and just so so so well done.